Category: Saturday Study

John 11-15 (1.21.23)

Grab your Bibles, and turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 12.

John 12:1a Six days before the Passover,

This is the third and final Passover of Jesus’ Ministry, meaning that this is the Triumphal Entry Passover!

This is the Last Supper Passover. These are the last few days of ministry before Jesus will enter Jerusalem for the last time and begin a sequence of events that will ultimately mean his flesh being ripped off and his body hanging on a criminal’s cross on our behalf. Now, the narrative of Calvary’s cross is not until chapter 19, but I want you to see that we are on the doorstep of the last Passover, and the events that will span the majority of what’s left in John’s Gospel. As we move into chapter 12, we will see that Jesus is going to make an important stop. He will break bread with his beloved friends Lazarus, Mary, and Martha.

John 12:1b-2 Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

Jesus is making his way now to Jerusalem and stops in Bethany to spend some time with loved ones. John gives us narration that Lazarus is there. Just take that in for a moment. Lazarus is there.

A man four days rotting in the grave is there to greet Jesus with a hug and a meal. As phenomenal as the miracle is that Jesus raised him from physical death to live more days above ground—as awesome as that is—it is only a picture of the spiritual resurrection God gives his people when he raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. He transfers us from our enslavement to sin and death to the eternal life in the kingdom of His glory. As we see Lazarus in his new physical life, don’t miss how God is using this to point us to the wonderful reality of spiritual resurrection. See a new man. I love to see a new man or woman in Christ who has been raised to “walk in the newness of life” as Paul describes it in Romans 6.

See life awakening, life transformation. No one else does this. No new routine, or new look, or new job, or new relationship, or new city does what only God can do in taking the sinful corpse and breathing new life into it—spiritual life! As I see Lazarus here with Jesus, I see an amazing picture of the new kingdom. The Resurrection (Jesus) and His resurrected people sitting together over a meal.

Verse 2 says, “So they gave a dinner for him there.” Our souls should long for the great feast with our God.

Isaiah 25:6-9 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Now, that’s dinner!

Christ in us means a great longing for the feast we will share w/ him one day in His heavenly courts. He will be the focus. He will be the reason for our praise. He will be our great treasure.

See here, that John is not just giving us a wasted narrative about Jesus randomly visiting a family for dinner. He is pointing us to the eternal dinner feast whereby we will lavish Him with worship and praise and enjoy Him and our resurrected family forever.

Now, before we look at Mary’s response to Jesus’ presence, let’s observe Martha and Lazarus.

John 12:2 Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.

First, we see Martha being Martha. Martha is a servant at her core. She is a doer. We see this in another visit Jesus had to this home.

Luke 10:38-42 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Martha is a servant. What a gift to have the spiritual gift of service—the desire and patience to tend to another’s needs, to put your needs aside to serve another, to host, to work for the good of another. Let all of us understand that while some are gifted for service, we are all called to be people who serve. We, as Christians, are to model our lives after Christ who is the suffering servant. Jesus modeled sacrificial service his entire ministry.

Now, the problem is that Martha is guilty of taking her service too far. We see this in her judgment of her sister for not doing enough in her eyes. We see this in Jesus’ admonishment of her being a worrier.

Martha suffers from a sinful tendency many of us suffer from.  It is the mindset that says, “I must earn my way.” It is the person that thinks victory and salvation are earned and warranted for those who deliver.

Even though you have heard time and time again that you are saved by grace and not by anything you do, you feel the never-ending pull to perform, to earn, to prove yourself. But, we have to see that this heart, this identity, misses the core of the good news of the Gospel.

We saw this in Jesus telling the parable of the prodigal sons. Martha is like the elder brother who judged his younger brother for his loose living and lazy stewardship. In contrast, the elder brother followed all the rules and worked hard for the father. But, in the end, we see that the elder brother was just as lost as the younger brother, for in the end he didn’t want the father, only the father’s stuff. He just had another way of proving his idolatry and his lostness.

Notice in Luke’s gospel:

Mary is not commended for being lazy. She is commended for being centered on Christ. What we must see is that we are desperate for Christ alone. Only if Jesus is our prize; only if His work is our payment; only if He is our advocate and hope, will we have new life with God. Our earning is not enough. And, the things we earn will never satisfy.

For you who are like Martha and the elder brother, remember that sacrificial service is a good and God-honoring thing. Hard work and good stewardship are good and God-honoring things; but not at the expense of a devoted and intimate life with Christ. He must be primary. He must be the reason for our service and working. You must always be desperate for Him and not ever get caught up in earning or aiming for another prize.

Now, that’s Martha. What about Lazarus?

We see here that Lazarus is reclining at the table with Jesus. He is enjoying the company of his Master. This is so simple that we can miss its teaching point. Do you enjoy the company of Jesus everyday of your life? Is he the one you are focused on more than anything else? Here is what that looks like:

• The highlight of our day is time with our Lord—not our family, not our jobs, not our social-media time, not our bath.
• The highest practice of our life is being discipled or making disciples—more than work, more than vacations, more than TV shows or hot rods.
• The first priority of our income is the regular and generous giving of our first fruits to our King for His eternal purposes.
• The first priority of our marriages is the display of the Gospel and not love, or romance, or life partnership.
• The highest priority of our week is corporate worship with our church family. It is not Friday night fun, or weekend rest, or work, or school.

The truth is there are a lot of things calling for our best time and attention and love. Many of these things we give in to all the time, but they let us down. Do you remember the song: “Nothing Compares to You”? Prince wrote it years ago, but Sinead O’Conner made it famous in 1990. It’s a song about someone whose lover has left them and at first, they think it’s cool because they get to do whatever they want, but what they find is that nothing compares to the love of their life. What is ironic is that even the love of their life can’t fulfill what only Jesus can.

If the love of your life, the devotion of your life, or the prize of your life is anything that is created, it is not everlasting. It will fail you. The bottom will fall out. Only Jesus sustains. Only Jesus satisfies forever.

• Money will be taken, spent, or passed on.
• Things will break, be used up, or passed on.
• Relationships will last only as long as you live. But Jesus is forever.

Consider what you would do differently if, after your life were over, you were to get a chance to come back and do some things differently. What would you do? You and I don’t know, but I know someone who does. His name is Lazarus. And what is he doing with his extended days? He is sitting humbly and joyfully at the feet of Jesus! Essentially, he is saying, “Nothing Compares to You.”

The Scriptures speak of another man who was living life to the max and was given a new beginning and a new name. Saul became Paul and what did Paul wisely profess in his new life in Christ compared to the fame and success he knew in his former life as a high-ranking Jew?

By the way, what I am about to read to you, Paul is writing from jail where he is being falsely imprisoned because he stands for Jesus now. Listen to what Paul says:

“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:8-11

Is Jesus so central, so great, so worthy, so satisfying that everything else is counted as rubbish—not in and of itself but in comparison with Jesus? He is so high, so valuable, so central that nothing compares? This is the heartbeat of the one captivated by God.

Let me show you what this looks like as we look now to Mary’s response to Jesus’ presence.

John 12:3 Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

The expensive ointment was like a very expensive perfume today. The elixir was pure nard, also known as Spikenard, which is a fragrant oil derived from the root or spike of the nard plant which grows in the northern mountains of India. Indian spike was used for special anointing of the head. It has a rose-red color and a very sweet scent. This was pure Spikenard and not a cheaper, diluted oil. Therefore, it was very valuable.

Now, everything about this is out-of-bounds from what is normal.

• The value of this ointment would have been very high and therefore not something you pour on feet—we’ll come back to this.
• The fact that she did this at dinner would have been highly unusual.
• The fact that she wiped off the anointing is unusual, as normally it would have been left there.
• The fact that she unbound her hair and used it to wipe his feet would not only not have been done, but it would have been seen as scandalous by many onlookers.

See this for what it is: a beautiful scene of sacrificial worship.

The value of the perfume is a huge symbol of the depth of her sacrificial worship that we must not miss.

If I told you I had poured out a bottle of perfume in exaltation of the name of the Lord you would say, “Cool!” An average bottle of perfume is what, $50? And an expensive bottle is a few hundred? Ok. But what if I told you that that bottle was worth a year’s income?

Judas gives us the insight in verse 5 that its market value was three hundred denarii. That’s roughly a year’s worth of income. Now, with that in mind, consider the cost of her worship. The sacrifice of her devotion to Jesus as Lord.

She is all in. Her heart’s desire is for her Lord. She is not worried about the cost. Instead, it is her joy to be sacrificial in the value of her offering.

This is the picture Paul is painting about the heart that we should have in our giving to God in our financial tithes when he says, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7

She is not reluctant and holding tightly to her treasures. Now she is joyful, cheerful to give it to the Lord. Later Paul gives us another view of this kind of sacrificial worship in 2 Corinthians 8:2-3: Though they have been going through much trouble and hard times, their wonderful joy and deep poverty have overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford but far more. And they did it of their own free will.

It was sacrificial. It cost them something. It was not their abundance or leftovers. It affected their livelihood.

Is this your heart toward your Master? Is it your joy to be his servant? To be his disciple? To give your lives away? Your most precious treasures for his namesake?

This is the true test of our heart.

There is a giving and a worship that we can muster up that is only surface level. It is in the realm of routine and obligation. There is a giving and serving and worship that can be done at a very surface level. And then there is a giving, a serving, and a worship that is an overflow of the heart—a deep affection that spills over in rich generosity and unbridled praise.

This is what we see here with Mary. She is not concerned about how she looks. She is all about her Lord. Her eyes are on her prize—her true treasure.

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

So, is Jesus truly your treasure? If He is, then you will constantly be looking for ways to show that He is your true joy and prize in all that you do.

What does this practically look like in everyday life?

Pastor John Piper once said it this way:

You steward the money entrusted to you in such a way that shows money is not your treasure, Christ is!

You steward the food entrusted to you in such a way that it shows food is not your pleasure, Christ is!

You steward the friends and family entrusted to you in such a way that it shows they are not your treasure, Christ is!

You steward computers, toys, houses, and cars, entrusted to you in such a way that it shows these are not your treasure, Christ is!

The way we display the supreme worth of Jesus is by treasuring Him above all things and then making choices which make the joy we have in His supreme worth clearly evident to the world around us.

And if He is not that for you today; if He’s not that treasure for you, then pray—all day and all night if you have to;

feast in His Living Word day and night so that your heart would be so impacted with His truth, that you would treasure Jesus above everything else in your life.

Mary is sacrificial and worshipful in that she pours out a valuable treasure on the one that she treasures more.

Mary is sacrificial and worshipful in that she doesn’t care who is watching or that she is letting down her hair.

Mary is sacrificial and worshipful in that she is willing to dirty her hair with Jesus’ feet as she wipes off the oil.

See how low she is willing to go. See her laser focus on her Master. Her King. Her God.

It says, “The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”

In the synoptic Gospels’ telling of this event Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.” Matthew 26:13 & Mark 14:9

The Hebrews scriptures taught that “a good name is better than fine perfume.” Ecclesiastes 7:1

The profession of the bride for her husband in the Song of Songs 1:2-3 speaks of the high value of these symbols saying, “… For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out …”

Is your life filled with the fragrance of worship for the name of Jesus Christ as Lord?

Is it the aroma of your days?

Is it the reputation of your life?

Is it the priority of your words?

Is it the devotion of your labor? Is it the firstfruits of your money?

Are you passionately devoted to Jesus; so much so that people who don’t share your heart’s affections see you as radical for Jesus?

May it growingly be so.

May our Lord truly be our greatest treasure and priority in life.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

John 6-10 (1.14.23)

Grab your Bibles, and turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 9. 

Jesus is in Jerusalem, and He engages a blind man who has been born blind and who has been reduced to being a beggar on the street. Jesus heals the man and gives him sight in an unprecedented miracle. So, the man can see for the first time in his life. What a moment. What a miracle.   

Have you seen the videos that are out there where someone is given hearing aids that allow them to hear for the first time or a surgery or glasses that allows them to see for the first time? It’s overwhelming. It’s tearful. It’s powerful and beautiful. To witness someone see or hear life and loved ones for the first time ever … Imagine that. You don’t know what their voices sounds like or what they actually look like, and you see someone’s face connected to his or her voice. This is a truly amazing miracle that utterly changed this man’s life like nothing else ever did.

Now, John’s testimony reveals that the man’s neighbors are trying to figure out how this happened–how this man they know who is blind can now see. So, he goes through an interrogation with his neighbors, and then he is brought to the Pharisees, who are supposed to render help and lead and direct him; however, they don’t care about him. They are only concerned with what he claims Jesus did, because they believe that Jesus is a demon-possessed counterfeit.

So, the Pharisees reject the testimony of the man, they reject the testimony of the neighbors, and they go looking to his parents. The parents are so afraid of looking like they favor Jesus that they turn their back on the healed man. Then the Pharisees end up throwing the man who can now see out of the building. By doing so, they are really throwing him out of the life of the nation–out of the life of Israel. 

This man has already been an outcast his entire life, because anybody who was born blind was believed to have been cursed by God for sin. His own family hasn’t taken him in, as we see him begging in the streets. He is finally able to do life, work a job, interact with people, and have new kinds of relationships, yet all he receives is harassment, skepticism, and rejection. His neighbors, his parents, and his spiritual leaders all reject him. In his highest moment in life, there is no celebration, no reception … just rejection. 

What a metaphor of this world. Our world is masterful at using us for selfish gain. And when those in the world get what, they want they toss us aside. Also, it’s great imagery that you can get all you ever dreamed of in this life and still be so far from satisfied. This world is fleeting. The highest highs and the greatest prizes are fleeting–momentary. Literally. Your dream car wears out. Your big pay check is spent. Your favorite meal is consumed. Your vacation is over. Your most loved ones pass away. Your favorite team’s winning run eventually ends. Your good looks fade. It is all fleeting.

Here is the good news. Chapter 9 doesn’t end here. It doesn’t end with ridicule and rejection and estrangement. No–light and hope break into the scene. Jesus enters the scene, and in verse 35 we read this:

John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him …

First, notice that Jesus pursued the man. He heard the Pharasee’s cast him out, and Jesus knew it was time to find him. Jesus’ desire to find this man wasn’t because He heard they cast him out. Christ’s desire to find and save the man was an eternal, predestined desire. It was just finally time to do it. Brothers and sisters, don’t ever stop praying for and witnessing to your lost loved ones, neighbors, and enemies. Why? Because you don’t know if and/or when God has determined to set them free. Sometimes He has planned for us to hit the bottom of our sin and lostness before He shines the light of life into our lives!

Jesus sought him out. Do you really understand the weight of this proclamation? When you and I were lost in our fleeting pursuit of the world’s treasures and joys instead of His deserving glory, Jesus sought us out. He put on flesh, He came down to our level, He did what we couldn’t do and wouldn’t do, and He paid for our freedom. He paid for it with His own blood.

This is the good news of gracious acceptance. This man had done nothing to earn Jesus’ favor–His pursuit. Jesus is the initiator. He is the spouse who is faithful to His bride when she wants nothing to do with Him. He comes, He finds us, and He gives us saving faith. This is what happens next:

John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

Do you believe in the Son of Man? This is a known title for the Redeemer, the Messiah, the promised One. In asking him this, Jesus is cutting into the man’s worldview with the greatest point of emphasis He could give him. He didn’t say, “Do you want me to show you how to make the most of your new sight? I see you are a rejected outcast. Do you want me to train you how to have lots of friends and how to be successful at life?”  No. Why didn’t He? Because all of that leads to damnation and eternal suffering if not saved and set free by Jesus. This is why Jesus asking about the man’s believing in the Son of Man is the greatest question He could ask.

If you are reading this today hoping for the remedy to an issue in your life, the answer is Jesus! It’s not a practice, a relationship, a drug, a job, a pay raise, a new whatever. It is Jesus!  

See what Jesus is doing here: He’s going in for the kill. He is going in for the one thing that will save this man. That he dies. 

Dies to himself and believes his life into Jesus’ hands. 

John 9:36 He [the man] answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?”

What made him want to trust Jesus? What made him so hungry to know the One Jesus was speaking of? Gut? A hunch? He got a good feeling from Jesus? A good vibe? 

Really, I am truly asking this. What made him say to essentially a stranger, “Who is he, sir, so that I can believe in him?”    Regeneration! God is literally doing heart surgery on this man. The heart of stone is being removed, and the heart of flesh is being given. Even better, his spiritual blindness is being removed, and he is being given eyes to see. Look:

John 9:37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”

Jesus is saying, “With the eyes you now have, you are looking at the Son of Man–the promised One.” The greatest gift you could be given is not that you see with your physical eyes; it is that you now see with spiritual eyes! And what evidence do we have of this conversion? Of this new birth?

John 9:38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

He didn’t call Jesus “sir,” like he did just moments before when he didn’t know who Christ was. Now he knows! He calls Jesus “Lord.” Jesus is his LORD! He professes his belief. And that belief, that knowing Jesus as God the Son as Master, causes him to worship Christ. 

You don’t have a two-sentence conversation with a stranger and then call Him “Lord” and worship Him as God! The man knows Him. He doesn’t just know about Jesus; he now knows Him! Jesus is his Lord!

He worshiped Jesus! Do you remember John 4:20-24? “The Father seeks true worshipers who worship Him in spirit and truth.” How do you know when someone is a believer? Because he becomes a true worshiper of Jesus. Believers give up their lives for the sake of the Lord their God. They bow down, no longer to idols or to try to rule on the throne themselves. They bow down to God as Lord of their lives and worship Him with all they are.

Now, notice this: In a crowd of unbelief, the outcast is brought in. Not just to a temporary group of friends of family, but into the courts of God almighty–into the eternal family of God!!!! DON’T MISS THIS! The miracle of this man’s life is not sight after a lifetime of blindness; it is salvation after a lifetime of sin, and the reversal of an eternity of damnation unto an eternity of joy in the presence of God Himself.

Don’t settle for temporary joys. Enjoy them. Praise God for them, but don’t settle for them. Don’t long for them. What if Jesus never sought this man out? What would he have gained? Sight for living, no more begging, the ability to work and thrive in this life? Yes, but for what? For fleeting joys, and then an eternity in hell. 

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36

CS Lewis said, “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Jesus gave the man the greatest gift he could ever receive–the greatest miracle of this life! Saving Faith! Regeneration. Belief in Jesus as the Son of God.

John 9:39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

This is the climactic statement of Jesus in the wake of this man’s conversion. Why? Because we have seen belief and unbelief in this one situation and interaction since being introduced to this blind man in John 9:1. While Jesus did not come to judge, His presence brings judgment. The light of the world has a double effect. It illuminates some unto life, and it brings condemnation and exposure to those who remain in the darkness. It convicts and brings judgment to the guilty, and it converts and brings life to the elect. IT’S ONE OR THE OTHER. We see the same thing at the cross of Jesus.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:23-24 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Jesus says here, “… that those who do not see may see [sight is given to the spiritually blind–this is regeneration, salvation]

and those who see may become blind [those who think they have all the needed capacities to thrive in life are in the end spiritually blind, and therefore lacking the most important capacity of all.]”

Now, the Pharisees must have been close enough to hear this conversation between the man and Jesus.

Listen to what they ask:

John 9:40-41 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”

They just saw this man that they rejected and cast out receive Jesus as Lord and worship Him. Then they heard Jesus say clearly that He has come to judge and that those who see become blind. So they are thinking, “We see. Does that mean we are now blind?” What is this in reference to? Jesus will explain later in John’s Gospel, chapter 15, but let me show it to you now:

John 15:22-25 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: They hated me without a cause.’”

Pastor John MacArthur recounted the teachings of the Scriptures well on this topic saying, “Throughout the whole Bible, blindness is used metaphorically to represent the human condition of corruption and fallen-ness, and the inability to comprehend God and divine truth.”

In Isaiah 43:8, we read of the people who are blind even though they have eyes.

In Jeremiah 5:21, we read of the people who are foolish and senseless; they have eyes but do not see.

In Isaiah 56:10, the corrupt leaders of Israel are described as watchmen who are blind, all of whom see nothing.

Jesus called the Pharisees blind men, and then He called them blind guides. 

All sinners, says the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4, are darkened in their understanding.

In John 3, our Lord said that sinners love the darkness rather than the light, because they cherish their evil deeds.

Revelation 3:17 defines the world of sinners as wretched, naked, miserable, poor, and blind. 

So, the Bible speaks of blindness as a metaphor for spiritual ignorance, spiritual darkness, spiritual corruption, and the inability to know God or to know the truth. That natural blindness, because of sin, is compounded by Satan’s power and deception, which makes a kind of double-blindness, spoken of in 2 Corinthians 4:4: “… the god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” Naturally blinded and satanically blinded.

There is also reference in the Scriptures to God’s divine hand in the blindness of the reprobate. Isaiah said in Isaiah 44:18, “They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand.”

In John 12:39-40, we will read that those who persist in unbelief cannot believe because, as Isaiah said, “He has blinded their eyes, hardened their hearts, that they would not see, perceive, and be converted.”

Paul wrote of this judgment in Romans 11:8: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.”

This is hard reality.

-Natural blindness is damning.

-Compounded satanic blindness is even more damning.

-Terminal blindness is a judgment of the sovereign God and is the removal of all hope. 

According to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, sinners walk in the ways of darkness.

According to Isaiah 5:20, they substitute light for darkness and darkness for light.

According to Ephesians 5:11, the whole world is full of people who participate in the unfruitful works of darkness because, as Colossians 1:13 says, they are part of the domain of darkness. Blindness and darkness are metaphors for the condition of sinners. 

This is a sobering clarity. Those who were the ones rejecting–rejecting the man, rejecting Jesus, rejecting the miracle–are now rejected. They are guilty. They will be cast out.

Spiritual blindness, then, receives judgment! It refuses to admit its blindness; it rejects truth. And it results in doom. Look at the end of verse 41: “Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, “We see,” your guilt remains.’”

He is saying, “You are blind in the sense that you don’t see your own sin. You are not blind in the sense that you have been exposed to the truth. You have the law, the prophets, the covenants–everything. You have the promises, the Old Testament. You’ve had Me. You’ve heard My words. You’ve seen the miracles. So, you have no excuse.”

Yes, you are blind to your own sin; but no, you are not blind to the truth. Therefore, you are judged. You are doomed. You are hopeless. Your guilty position remains.

If you are still with me, hear this: Religion is not enough. Knowing truth is not enough. It must turn into love for the Lord. Temporary victories are not enough. The world’s treasure and pleasures are not enough.

Only Jesus can fulfill us. Worship for Him. Surrender to Him. Hail Him as KING!

Serve Him with all of your life! Or you remain in judgment and condemnation.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

John 1-5 (1.7.23)

This is the first “Saturday Study” of this year’s new reading plan through the NT. Every Saturday, we will send out a personal Bible study for you to use to dig into something that we read that week in the Bible reading plan. Some will be short and to the point, and others will be longer, giving you a chance to really dig in and study and grow. Understand, this is not meant to be a quick read on the way through the Starbucks drive thru. It is meant to be a tool to help you sit with God’s word and truly dig in and grow and mature in your understanding of the things of God. I pray you will take the time each week to make it a priority to study with us and be stretched unto a more mature walk with God. Know that I am praying for you as you study this year–that God’s word would come alive to you in greater ways and cause you to grow in repentance and belief. 

Turn with me to the Gospel of John and specifically John 2:23-3:8, as we dig into this special passage today.

As we look to verse 23 of chapter 2, we are given a reminder that Jesus was in “Jerusalem at the Passover Feast.” We just finished a few weeks of looking at how and why Jesus cleared the temple, and then we looked at His exchange with the Jews about His right to do these things. Today, we are going to hear our author, John the beloved, give us a very sobering insight into the state of many of the people who followed Jesus during these days and witnessed the things he did. Let’s look.

The Problem: Superficial Belief

John 2:23-25 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man

What we discover here is the sobering reality that there is a kind of belief that looks like saving faith and makes one look like a follower of Jesus Christ, but in the end, it is not a saving faith. Jesus doesn’t entrust Himself to them. Instead, they remain in their sin. This is a very sobering testimony by John that builds an important understanding that sets the table for the upcoming chapters and Jesus’ conversations with Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the gentile official, and others.

What we must see is there is a kind of belief about Jesus that is superficial and not saving. 

We have seen already that some see the glory of Jesus in His signs and believe, like the disciples did in John 2:11, and there are others who see His signs and do not believe, like the Jewish leaders in John 2:18. But there are also some who say they believe, but their belief is superficial and not saving, as Jesus does not entrust Himself to them, because He knows their hearts and not just their confession of words or outward actions.

What John is pointing out here is very serious and often overlooked, but it is so critical. 

We must do serious business with this text today, because superficial faith equals death. It does not equal saving faith. You can look like you believe, you can do the right things, you can say the right words; but in the end, you don’t truly trust Jesus with your life! You are not dead to sin and self and alive in Christ!

This was not just a problem in Jesus’ day, but it continues to be one today. I can’t tell you how many people I have ministered to over the years who believed they were saved because they repeated words that someone else told them to say only to find out at a later time in life what true, saving repentance and faith really was.  

The Bible says salvation is only found in the hearts of men and women who God has awakened from death to life with the gift of saving repentance and belief in Him alone! 

See, what’s amazing about God is He works in people’s lives despite the work of the deceivers and despite the lack of understanding we might have had when we were saved by God.  

Mark 1:15 says, “the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” We are called to repent and believe in Jesus alone!

That is not a one-time, say-these-words-and-you-are-good thing. For those whom God gives saving faith, your life is repentance and belief, both at the moment you are saved and every minute you live after that!

Repentance is essential because it is the “dying to self to live for Christ.” It is taking up a new path in light of the gospel. It is living out the transformation that Christ is doing within. It is not just a one-time thing.

As Martin Luther said so famously in his 95 theses, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ‘Repent,’ he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

Belief is not just, “Believe Jesus is who he says he is,” but it’s a belief that is a TRUST in Him for everything. 

Before we move on, we have to see that superficial belief can play out into practical Christian activities and even devotion.

One of the most startling things you’ll ever read in the Bible is this very situation illuminated by Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

The first shocking thing we read here is that Jesus says “MANY” will fit this description of superficial belief. 

Second, their deception was made worse by their busy religious activity.

Matthew 7:22 “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’”

They’re impacting people’s lives. They’re ministering, and yet Jesus says, “I don’t know them.”

Jesus’ point here is that you can say you love God and do many things for Him but have no spiritual reality and true connection with God.   

So, what do I mean by “spiritual reality” or you could say “spiritual life”?

We must understand what John is revealing here in our text so that we rightly understand the absolute need for spiritual new birth if we are going to truly believe and be saved.

Dead in Sin: He Knew What Was in Them

Back to John 2:23. These people are saying they believe, but Jesus did not entrust Himself to them therefore declaring their belief was superficial and not saving. Why did He not entrust Himself to them? Because He knew what was in them.

He knew their words of belief were just words. He knew the state of their hearts. And their hearts had no spiritual life!

They were dead. Look with me again: 

John 2:23-25 … many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

As a consequence of the fall of the first man, Adam, every person born into the world is morally corrupt and spiritually dead. This doctrine is called “total depravity.” A concise way to think of total depravity is the state of being spiritually dead. It is not just that some parts of us are sinful and others are pure; rather, every part of our being is affected by sin: our intellects, our emotions and desires, our hearts (the center of our desires and decision-making processes), our goals and motives, and even our physical bodies. 

Paul says, “I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18), and “to the corrupt and unbelieving nothing is pure; their very minds and consciences are corrupted” (Titus 1:15).

Jeremiah tells us that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately corrupt; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Genesis 6:5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

In these passages, Scripture is not denying that unbelievers can do good in human society in some senses. But it is denying that they can do any spiritual good or be good in terms of a relationship with God.

Apart from the work of Christ in our lives, all unregenerate people are “darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Ephesians 4:18).

God will not have fellowship with an unregenerate person, because He knows what is in man’s heart, which is the sin that rightly separates us from a holy God.

Hear it again: John 2:24-25 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Jesus will not entrust Himself to anyone simply because they proclaim superficial belief in Him. We are desperate for NEW birth!

A. W. Pink says it well: “The new birth is an imperative necessity because the natural man is altogether devoid of spiritual life. It is not that he is ignorant and needs instruction: it is not that he is feeble and needs invigorating: it is not that he is sickly and needs doctoring. His case is far, far worse. He is dead in trespasses and sins. This is no poetical figure of speech; it is a solemn reality, little as it is perceived by the majority of people. The sinner is spiritually lifeless and needs quickening. He is a spiritual corpse, and needs bringing from death unto life. He is a member of the old creation, which is under the curse of God, and unless he is made a new creation in Christ, he will lie under that curse to all eternity. What the natural man needs above everything else is life, Divine life; and as birth is the gateway to life, he must be born again, and except he be born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is final.”

We need new birth! Paul explains that those whom the Spirit has not set free are in sin and death. Without the Spirit’s reviving work in a person, he/she is “unable” to know God, seek God, or please God.

Romans 8:7-8 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Jesus also teaches that it is impossible for man to turn to God without God’s gracious intervention.

John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

Matthew 11:27 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all …”

Many people, myself included, were taught growing up that man is free enough to choose God and believe in His gospel. But as we have just seen, the Bible speaks often and clearly that man’s will is not free, as many commonly think of “free will.”   Instead, man is the opposite of free in our nature and will. We are “enslaved” to sin.

John 8:34 “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”

The reality we must understand is man cannot please God or choose Jesus in our sin.

This is so big! We have to hear the global and ongoing revelation of God’s word on this matter. When we think we can just believe anytime we want to, we endorse and employ superficial belief. A belief like this is in no way saving or sanctifying!

If you can read these words, you must understand the threat of superficial belief is very real, and we must see today the need to be born again, made alive by God, given new birth, and regenerated.

To understand this, all we have to do is turn the page to John chapter 3.

Belief About Jesus

John 3:1-2 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”

First, Who Is Nicodemus?

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a ruler of the Jews, which means he was likely a member of the Jewish ruling council (aka the Sanhedrin). These were the most highly ranked and authoritative Jewish leaders and overseers. They were the most trained and the most invested into the Jewish faith and Jewish matters of the day. This is the group that was the driver for the eventual plot against Jesus.

While most of the Pharisees were very opposed to and contentious with Jesus from the get go, Nicodemus seems to show some unique interest and inquiry in Jesus. He stands apart from the others, in that he has a certain level of liking or respect or superficial belief in Jesus. The fact that he is even willing to seek Him out in this way is not normal for a Pharisee, nor would it be looked on favorably by the other Pharisees, which is likely why Nicodemus seeks Jesus out “at night.”

What is also remarkable is that Nicodemus calls Jesus rabbi! It is very out of place that a high ranking and respected Jewish teacher would refer to the younger Jesus as a fellow “rabbi” especially because it was known Jesus lacked formal rabbinic training, as we read in John 7:15.

Even Nicodemus’ declaration that Jesus is special in that He is “a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him,” shows that he is more open than the other Pharisees who later declare that Jesus “is not from God” (John 9:16). 

But we know that Nicodemus is not alone in his observations about Jesus’ ability to perform signs, in that Nicodemus says, “we know that you are a teacher come from God.” 

This refers either to a small number of other Pharisees, or more likely, his observation that others are captivated by Jesus’ signs and are crediting Him with being from God. Now we understand from our time in John 1 that Jesus is not from God but is God and equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. So even this understanding of Nicodemus is revealing his lack of true discernment for who Jesus is.

What I want to be sure you see is the placement of this interaction of Jesus with Nicodemus in John’s Gospel immediately following John’s words about superficial belief. I believe Nicodemus stands before us as a prime example, at least at this stage of his life, as one who believed in Jesus in some way but not in a saving way!

Again, I want you to consider for yourself or for others you know who profess they believe in Jesus but show no real fruit of submission to Him as Lord of their lives, no ongoing repentance for sin, or pursuit of His word, or accountability to His Church.

These are evidence that the belief that is being professed is superficial. Now, I say evidence because only God knows the heart. But we deceive ourselves and/or don’t love those we know who claim Christ but show no real evidence of repentance and submitting to Christ at Lord.

The absolute worst place someone could be is believing they are good with God based on superficial belief. Only true saving faith will equal a real submission to God and/or at least a real and lasting fight against sin and self.

The journey is hard and sometimes long to overcome certain valleys in our faith walk, but if you are making time to pursue the truths of God and the people of God who can help you grow and walk with Jesus, then keep on.

God is at work in your heart and life. Do not give up. Stop worrying about what only He knows and just keep going. The worst thing you could do is stop or quit or walk away and give up. Know that God will not miss His predetermined plan for your life. He will perfectly save and keep all of His chosen people.

If you are only leaning on your one-time profession of faith or your childhood church attendance and/or you are not really walking with God and growing in Christ, then you should become worried, because there is no fight in you, no practice, no evidence of real discipleship and repentance and growth.

If this is you, then you need to understand what John is revealing to us here today. Because superficial faith is not saving faith.    What you need is to be born again!

You Must Be Born Again

Now, all Nicodemus has said is that Jesus must be from God, because of the signs He has done. What Jesus is about to say in response is going to go to the heart of Nicodemus’ statement here. He is going to do something Jesus does a lot, which is to reply to the heart and not just the words of someone’s inquiry. Jesus can do this because He knows the heart of man (John 2:25 for he himself knew what was in man).

1 Samuel 16:7 For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

In His addressing Nicodemus’ heart, Jesus is essentially going to say that it is not enough that you believe that He is from God.  He is going to call out Nicodemus’ superficial belief and declare what is necessary for saving belief! Jesus is going to say, “You don’t understand the true workings of the Kingdom of God, because you cannot yet see them, because you have not yet been spiritually born.”

John 3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Whenever you hear the words “truly truly” twice like this, it is a way of implying great emphasis of truth. So when Nicodemus says, “we know,” Jesus is saying in His reply, “You do not know, and here is how much you do not know.”

What Jesus is saying is that no amount of human knowledge, reasoning, or believing will bring you to spiritual understanding. Only new birth can accomplish this!

What is dead must be made alive. Later in the New Testament, other imagery is used to describe the need for new birth. The deaf cannot hear. The blind cannot see. The dead cannot believe! New birth is required! (John 9:39-41)

Now, this is a shocking indictment for Jesus to tell Nicodemus, because all faithful Jews believed they would be in God’s future Kingdom.

When Jesus says, “unless one is born again,” the word “again” here is more literally translated “from above” or “top to bottom.”  Unless one is born from above. 

Nicodemus shows in his response that he is hearing Jesus say a person must literally be “born again.”

Let’s look:

John 3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Here Nicodemus reveals Jesus’ very point. All Nicodemus can see or think of is the physical, because he has no discernment that what Jesus is referring to is a spiritual new birth. It is actually quite shocking that this is his reply. If you were talking to a five-year-old about these things, you may get this kind of outlandish answer that Jesus can’t be serious, because everyone knows a grown man is not going to crawl up into his mother’s womb to come out again. Nicodemus is a highly studied, trained, wise, grown man, and yet he is so oblivious to the fact that Jesus is talking about a spiritual new birth here that this is what he says in reply.  

We must understand physical birth is different than spiritual birth.

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”

Jesus’ reply brings clarity that even if one could be literally (physically) born again, it would not accomplish anything, for it would again only be a physical birth. Many of us have thought before, “What if I could go back and try again? Start over? Hit the reset button and do my youth and my young adulthood differently?” But you have to see, you would be just as lost and just as spiritually dead. Sure, you might make a better go of it, but you still would be spiritually dead. No physical rebirth is worth anything.

Instead, what is needed is spiritual birth. “Born of flesh” refers to a natural or physical birth. “Born of Spirit” is Jesus’ reference to what is necessary for eternal life and reconciliation with God.

So, What Is New Birth?

What does it mean to be born from above? Or to be given eyes to see or ears to hear? We often call this regeneration!

Regeneration is a secret act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to us. This is sometimes called “new birth” or “being born again.”

We saw this, for example, in chapter one when John talks about those to whom Christ gave power to become children of God: They “were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

Here, John specifies that children of God are those who are “born of God.” Our human will (“the will of man”) does not bring about this kind of birth. In the work of regeneration, we play no active role at all. It is totally a work of God.

1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

We did not choose to be made physically alive, and we did not choose to be born; it is something that happened to us. Similarly, these Scriptures tell us that we are entirely passive in regeneration.

This sovereign work of God in regeneration was spoken of in the prophecy of Ezekiel. This is one of the closest parallels we see in Scripture to Jesus’ phrase, “born of water and spirit.”

Ezekiel 36:24-27 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

New birth is essential for true, saving belief because the heart must be made alive if it is going to trust in God. It must be freed from its enslaved state in sin before one will see the full state of his sin, repent, see the beauty of the gospel as the good news, and trust in Christ alone for salvation.

This is good news because it is the only lasting and true “new beginning.” Many of you want a new beginning in this life. You want a fresh start. You want to see real change in areas of your life. New birth is the true way to experience this!

All other man-made restarts will inevitably fall into the abyss in the end. Only new birth given by God is lasting and truly brings about a new nature.

The new birth is the impartation of the new nature. When I was born the first time, I received from my parents their sin nature, but when I was born again, I received from God the Holy Spirit to dwell within me. 

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The fact that this is an act of God and not seen by man is further clarified in the next verses: 

John 3:7-8 “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

The sovereign work of regeneration is God’s to decide and to do. We see its effects in transformed lives and saving faith, but we do not know when or how God awakens a dead heart to life. This is His work and His alone! Just like we can see the affects and hear the movement of the wind, but we do not know its origin or know when it will move: both are sovereign in their activities, and both are mysterious in their operations. By now you might be thinking, “What does this have to do with me or my problems in life or my week this week?” Everything! If you are spiritually dead what do you have?

Mark 8:36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul.

Jesus is revealing in His presence and in His words here that there is new birth. Hear me today: What we need is possible in God. So, for you who ask, “Why does all this matter?” I say, nothing matters more! 

I pray it makes you hungry to study with us the word of God, hear the testimony of the gospel, that you might be saved and set free to live–to live with God forever! I pray that the blind would see and the deaf hear and the dead in sin rise to new life in Christ! I pray that you not be like Nicodemus, full of worldly wisdom and the respect of man, but lacking discernment and understanding for that which matters most! 

The good news is that God, in His amazing grace, gives new birth to those who stand as His enemies: dead in sin, worshiping false idols, and living for their own glory and by their own rules. He gives new birth, and in this, new life to those whom He chooses–those who do not deserve His grace and those who will be forever His!  

This is why we celebrate and praise Him: because He has adopted many of us into His eternal family by His sovereign election and saving grace! This is why we preach the gospel to the dead in sin not knowing who will truly believe, trusting in God’s perfect plan and will. This is why those of you who are resting on superficial faith need to truly repent and turn from your sin and trust in Jesus alone for life and salvation. No more resting on what you know in your head but submitting your entire soul and life to God: dying to yourself and living for Him.

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

John 17-21 (12.31.22)

Good Morning Church Family and Friends!

It is my prayer that this year’s Saturday Studies have been a blessing to you and to your walk with the Lord Jesus. We will begin our new study on Monday, and I am excited to tell you that we will read through the New Testament this year for our daily Bible reading. Pass the word along to encourage others to join us, and let’s keep God’s word the center of all we are and do in this new year that our Lord is entrusting to us!

To help set the table for this final interaction that John records in his Gospel, let me remind us of what has just taken place in this conversation on the shore of the Sea of Galilee between Jesus and Peter. Jesus and seven of the disciples have just finished a great fish BBQ for breakfast, and Jesus takes this opportunity to prepare Peter and the disciples for leading and feeding His sheep—His Church. In verses 18-19, Jesus declares that Peter will die by crucifixion in his old age—a death that will glorify God. This news comes on the heels of Peter declaring his love for Jesus three times, which is an important moment of restoration for Peter, since his failure to stand with Christ at his arrest when Peter denied knowing Him three times. Jesus finishes this leg of the conversation by saying to Peter, “Follow me.”

As Jesus approaches His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and as the disciples will go on to launch the Church, write the New Testament, and die for their faith in Jesus, they are now preparing to truly live out the teaching of Jesus that “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

This is the life of the Christian: to die to self every day and give one’s life joyfully for the glory and gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is our high privilege to follow Jesus and to give our lives for Him. Peter got this better than anyone. But Peter is also a human man, which means he is susceptible to comparing, judging, fearing, and boasting among other men, which we see play out in the last leg of this conversation.

John 21:20-21 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”

Peter is blessed to hear that he will finish his race faithful to the Lord, which is a beautiful truth to his soul, even if it means he will die for his faith. But even in the good news of this revelation of the Lord, Peter’s flesh is still quick to jump in and say, “What about that guy? Is he going to die for you, too?”

The man Peter refers to is identified by many clear indicators but not by his name. The disciple Jesus loved was John. The one who leaned back against Jesus during the Lord’s supper was John. The one who asked, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” It was John. So it is about John, our author of this Gospel, that Peter asks, “Lord, what about this man?”

Now, what Peter is asking Jesus in this is: “Will John die for you as well? You just said I am going to die for you. And as much as that is good news, my flesh is quick to want to know about those around me and who will die, also.”

What is it in our flesh that is so concerned with everyone else’s business? When we do something wrong, we are so quick to deflect and point out what the other person did, even though we know we were wrong. We are quick to put the focus on another. We are so quick to concern ourselves with others; not in a “good, loving, looking-out-for-you” way, but in a “nosy, selfish, looking-for-life-to-always-be-fair” kind of way.

Peter is given this amazing moment to really hear what Jesus is trying to tell him to help him grow and be ready. And yet, in Peter’s flesh, he so quickly focuses on others. Let’s look at Jesus’ reply:

John 21:22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!”

I love Jesus’ response to Peter. Jesus sets Peter straight by saying, “It is none of your business what I, the sovereign God, decide to do with John or anyone else.” When Jesus says, “What is that to you?” it is His way of saying, “How does this help you in any way? This is a distraction from where your focus should be, which is on yourself and the faith-walk and ministry I have called you to do for me.” Jesus reorients Peter by saying, “Follow me.” This is Jesus’ way of saying, “Get your eyes off of others and focus on me.”

Jesus was not declaring that John would not die until He came again. That would mean John is 2,000 years old and still hanging around. Jesus simply meant that if it was His will that he would remain, then he would remain.

John 21:22 Jesus said to him, “If it is my will …”

This brings us to the important reality of God’s providential will. We must stop and ponder the power of Jesus’ words here. This is the Word of God—the One who created, sustains, and purposes all things according to His perfect will. I don’t want us to miss what Jesus is trying to do for Peter here. It is what God did for Job, too. God is reminding the created of the providential rule of the Creator. Oh, how we need this reminder, too. In our sin, mankind has been guilty of thinking we can give God counsel and/or cause God to follow our will. We must know and embrace the reality of God’s providence and honor Him as the One who is over all things.

Understand this: When God acts, He does so only because He willfully and independently chooses to act, according to His own nature, predetermined plan, and good pleasure. He decides to do whatever He desires, without pressure or constraint from any outside influence. God’s word says this to us again and again:

Hebrews 1:3 tells us that Christ “… upholds the universe by his word of power.”

In Colossians 1:17, Paul says of Christ that “… in him all things hold together.” Such teaching is also affirmed by Paul when he says, “In him we live and move and have our being …” (Acts 17:28).

God continues to give us breath each moment. Elihu says of God, “If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust”(Job 34:14-15; cf. Ps. 104:29).

In Ephesians 1:11, Paul says that God “… works all things according to the counsel of his will.”

It is God’s providence to fulfill His plan, and it is our job to joyfully and faithfully follow Him in obedience to His will. This is Jesus’ simple yet potent charge to Peter as a follow-up to his rebuke. He simply says in John 21:22, “… You follow me!”

He is saying, “What I ordain to happen to John is my decision and right, and it is not your concern, but what you are to focus on is following me.” This is a massive lesson and a much-needed reminder to us who are God’s people and to those who are studying this passage. Because we, too, are regularly guilty of worrying about what will happen or what we think should happen and not concerned enough with leaving that up to God and focusing on the mission that God has given us to live out.

Brother and sister in Christ, are you worrying about what tomorrow will bring? Are you working to make things go your way? Are you busy telling God how He should act? Are you constantly thinking about others and what they need to do and not do instead of doing the one thing the Lord has saved you and called you to do—to follow Him?

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

This is such a central charge of Jesus for His disciples. We, who are His disciples today, must stop and consider with urgency: What does it look like to follow Him?

It is sin to get caught up in looking left or right, and looking for fair, or worrying about what someone else has, or what you don’t have. It is coveting. It is greed. It is selfishness. It is no being thankful to God for His amazing grace. Instead, let us say with James, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15).

This last scene of Jesus in the Gospel of John is Him with His disciples reorienting them and preparing them for what is to come. John doesn’t give us a view of Jesus’ ascension or the beginning work of the Church. But what we do have is poignant and potent for us, still today.

The last words of Jesus in the Gospel of John are to His disciple. He says,“…You follow me!”(John 21:22). It is  a fitting word for each of us today: “You follow me!”

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church

John 12-16 (12.24.22)

Let’s dig back into chapter 16 that we read on Friday and see the beautiful truth that Jesus has overcome the world and what that means for us. I want to dig deep with you into one verse in chapter 16—verse 33. I pray it is as great a blessing to you as it is to me.

John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Here, Jesus brings resolve to His words in the farewell discourse with the words: “I have said these things to you …” And then He brings a solid and poignant, three-part clarity that the disciples will need in the coming season of ministry and in spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth. This verse is where I want to spend the bulk of our time today. I want us to know it and be emboldened by it.

First, He says, “… that in me you may have peace …” Jesus says, “… in me you may have peace …”

Regarding Jesus being the source of our peace, He said to them in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

The dictionary defines peace as untroubled; tranquil; content. But true, lasting peace is different than the world’s peace. True peace is not found in the absence of conflict or in good feelings. The world’s peace is a circumstantial peace, and therefore it is always momentary or temporary. This is not the kind of lasting peace that we find in Jesus! The only way we have lasting peace is in Jesus. No external or self-made modification can bring the peace that only Christ can give. Christ’s work on your behalf is the only way peace is attainable for your deepest problems. Read what God’s word has to say about this:

Isaiah 53:5 (NIV) Buthe [Jesus] was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, wehave peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what Jesus is emphasizing: Your true peace in the midst of hardship, suffering, loss, pain, and persecution is only found in Jesus! “… that in me you may have peace …” True peace is in no way dependent on your circumstances; it is found in Jesus. Again, this is why religion and knowledge about Jesus is simply insufficient. Your belief must be into Jesus. You are desperate for His identity, His power, His work, and His promise and not your own or anything else’s. “… in me you may have peace …” This is truly good news.

Next, Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation.” This is what Jesus said in John 15:19: “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

Because those whom God has chosen to make new in Christ are no longer of the world but of Christ and now members of His household, the world has a true angst and hatred for the church. Jesus spoke of this several times:

Matthew 10:17 “Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues”

Matthew 24:9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”

Luke 21:16-17 “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.”

If they only knew what tribulation and persecution waited around the corner and the tidal wave that it must have been in those next couple of days. They would be hiding for their lives, and they would watch their master be tortured and condemned and killed. Each of them would experience tribulation until all but John were killed for their faith. Let us not be surprised when the world hates us, when the world is coming at us, and when nothing is making sense in the world. Why? Why is this not just feel-good religious rhetoric that really means nothing when your world is crumbling? It is because of our Victor. It is because of He who sits on the throne. It is because of the One who holds all things together—because of He who has overcome the world. As big as the evil system of darkness is; as massive as Satan’s army is; as rampant as sin and selfishness are; as lost as people are in sin and idol-worship and self-glorification; as dark as the sins of rape, child abuse, human trafficking, genocide, abortion, sexual perversion, corporate greed, and false worship are in our world … hear what Jesus says to His disciples. Hear Him declare to us today in His word:

 “… But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

The influence and power of “the world” is powerful, but hear me today: It is not all-powerful. One greater than it, mightier than its “prince,” has been here and vanquished it. The world did its utmost in the battle, but the Son of God prevailed. The world is a conquered world; it has been conquered for us by Christ. Let us take courage! The storms of trial and persecution may sometimes beat fiercely upon us, but let them only drive us closer to Christ.

… at the name of Jesus every knee might bow … (Philippians 2:10).

It is “… God who changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings …” (Daniel 2:21).

It is God whose riches and wisdom and knowledge are the deepest! It is His judgments that are unsearchable and His ways that are inscrutable (Romans 11:33).

It is Jesus who has been given “All authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

Jesus—our King, our bloodied champion, our God—has overcome the world. Is this under your feet? Is it the filter through which everything that is coming at you must pass? Be reminded of what God said to Job to remind him who reigned over all things:

Job 38:4-13 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.

Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?

On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,

when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,

when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,

and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors,

and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,

that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?”

May we know who our God is. May we rightly understand what He controls. May we believe rightly that nothing and none are His equal. The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. For when he spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command (Psalm 33:6, 9).

1 Chronicles 29:11 “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.”

Isaiah 40:18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?

1 Samuel 2:2 “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”

Jesus says, “… take heart …” In other words, “Don’t lose faith. Keep your head up.” Trust in Jesus, for He has overcome the world. For in Christ alone is the power for salvation and every good thing that honors God. Let the fact that God rules over it all and that Christ has overcome it all be to us an unbreakable and unshakable bedrock for our faith! Stand on Romans 8:28, which says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

Romans 8:33-39 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Yes, the world will rage at us; suffering, death, and persecution will be real for us in the here and now. But, Jesus has overcome the world. We need to stop telling God how big our storm is and instead, tell our storm how big our God is.

Our peace is found in Jesus.

Our victory is found in Jesus.

Our security is found in Jesus.

Please join me in memorizing this verse:

John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

By His grace and for His glory,

Pastor Joshua Kirstine

Disciples Church