WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.679 John chapter 12 and that little section verses 9 to 11. 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:08.779 John 12 at verse 9. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:11.679 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, 00:00:12.359 --> 00:00:18.019 they came not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:22.160 So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:29.160 because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:35.859 Lazarus is a fascinating figure in John's gospel. 00:00:36.980 --> 00:00:39.179 We're never told much about him. 00:00:39.820 --> 00:00:41.140 We never hear him speak. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:44.179 We don't know what he did in life. 00:00:45.340 --> 00:00:51.579 Nothing really out with this short reference in these passages, chapter 11 and 12. 00:00:52.320 --> 00:00:57.379 All we know about him was that he was ill, that he died, that he was buried, 00:00:57.380 --> 00:01:06.020 that he was raised by Jesus, and that he's here sitting at dinner as Jesus is an invited guest in the home. 00:01:06.659 --> 00:01:10.960 We know that he belonged to this family, along with his two sisters, 00:01:11.180 --> 00:01:17.680 who love Jesus and who are very devoted to Jesus in following him and his teaching. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:19.800 But that's about it. 00:01:20.720 --> 00:01:28.420 Nothing else about him is recorded, and we don't ever hear anything of by way of a confession or a statement about Jesus, 00:01:28.660 --> 00:01:31.300 nothing about his faith, nothing of that. 00:01:32.320 --> 00:01:36.540 And yet, as you look at John's gospel and the passages referring to Lazarus, 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:44.340 they really provide a very powerful narrative of Christ's own power and place and person. 00:01:44.340 --> 00:01:47.900 The account we have is a very powerful narrative, 00:01:48.040 --> 00:01:55.980 and the place that Lazarus has in it is absolutely central and crucial to presenting the message that Jesus has, 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:00.659 and especially of illustrating this message that he said about himself, 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:05.460 one of the great I am statements in the Gospel of John, here in chapter 11, 00:02:05.459 --> 00:02:08.539 where he says to Lazarus' sister, Martha, 00:02:08.799 --> 00:02:12.199 I am the resurrection and the life. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:15.159 Whoever believes in me shall never die. 00:02:15.239 --> 00:02:18.599 Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:20.259 Do you believe this? 00:02:20.799 --> 00:02:26.819 And the raising of Lazarus is really, in a sense, the physical outworking of that statement, 00:02:26.819 --> 00:02:35.579 that Jesus, as the resurrection and the life, gives evidence and credence to that by raising Lazarus from the dead. 00:02:35.579 --> 00:02:40.620 Only somebody who is the resurrection and the life could do such a thing. 00:02:41.019 --> 00:02:45.840 Only somebody who has life in himself greater than the strength of death 00:02:45.840 --> 00:02:52.379 could actually do something like raising Lazarus, bringing him back from the dead. 00:02:52.379 --> 00:02:58.299 Now imagine that you are here at this time, that you were there at this time, 00:02:58.819 --> 00:03:02.479 when all of this excitement was taking place in Jerusalem. 00:03:03.359 --> 00:03:08.800 Not only did this event take place, but it was also approaching the time of the Passover. 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:15.199 Many, many people have been crowding into Jerusalem from country parts in order to celebrate the Passover. 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:23.939 And just imagine that you're one of those selected or invited to come and partake of this dinner. 00:03:24.799 --> 00:03:28.280 We told here that they had prepared a dinner for him, for Jesus. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:29.659 Martha was serving. 00:03:30.280 --> 00:03:34.000 And Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:37.319 How many others there were, were not told. 00:03:37.459 --> 00:03:39.259 But just imagine that you're there yourself. 00:03:40.280 --> 00:03:42.639 And imagine looking at Lazarus. 00:03:43.079 --> 00:03:44.159 What would you be thinking? 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:47.240 What questions would be going through your mind? 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.740 What thoughts would you have as you looked at this man? 00:03:51.439 --> 00:03:56.919 And as you could say assuredly, I know that this man was dead some days ago. 00:03:57.139 --> 00:03:58.400 I know that he was buried. 00:03:59.120 --> 00:04:01.439 I even know where his sepulcher was. 00:04:02.139 --> 00:04:06.840 And here he is at this table with me, eating of this dinner. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:12.639 Just imagine the thoughts that would go through your mind, because this is a real event. 00:04:12.639 --> 00:04:22.699 And these people knew that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, as indeed did the authorities themselves, as we'll see in the passage. 00:04:23.699 --> 00:04:28.860 Here's the man who was in his grave days before this. 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:30.780 And he's now alive. 00:04:30.780 --> 00:04:34.680 And he's sitting here with others partaking of this dinner. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:36.860 What an amazing sight. 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:39.240 What an amazing situation. 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:48.280 And you can just imagine, as I said, yourself or myself, putting yourself there and somehow trying to imagine looking at Lazarus. 00:04:48.280 --> 00:04:55.280 I'm sure I'm sure I would certainly have my eyes fixed on him, just trying to fathom out what had happened. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:05:02.439 How has this man come to be sitting here at the table with me, having been in a sepulcher not that long ago? 00:05:02.979 --> 00:05:05.839 And, of course, that all points to Jesus himself. 00:05:06.659 --> 00:05:12.219 And what we find here is that there were two reactions to Lazarus sitting here at the table. 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:17.419 And the two reactions are very clear from the passage. 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:23.640 Now, it's not surprising that you have, as you find in verse 9 here, a large crowd of the Jews. 00:05:24.180 --> 00:05:32.480 When they learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 00:05:32.540 --> 00:05:35.620 Obviously, the news about this would have spread very quickly. 00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:42.180 And especially with so many people crowding into Jerusalem at this Passover time, the news of this would have really spread. 00:05:42.180 --> 00:05:47.019 You didn't need social media in such a context as that to make the news known. 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:49.439 It would have passed from person to person very quickly. 00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:53.759 And the news would have spread to such an extent that, are you going to see Lazarus? 00:05:53.819 --> 00:05:56.319 Are you coming to Mary and Martha's house? 00:05:56.920 --> 00:05:58.720 Because Lazarus is going to be there. 00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:00.360 They're going to make a dinner for him. 00:06:00.780 --> 00:06:02.600 And we're just curious to see this man. 00:06:02.819 --> 00:06:05.280 We're curious to see, is it really him? 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:06.699 Did this really happen? 00:06:06.699 --> 00:06:15.699 And the crowd would make their way to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 00:06:15.779 --> 00:06:19.539 Because after all, this, of course, was not an everyday event. 00:06:20.279 --> 00:06:26.139 This was something that the crowds had never witnessed or heard of before. 00:06:26.699 --> 00:06:31.240 And they came just to see Lazarus. 00:06:31.240 --> 00:06:39.560 But that actually led to two reactions, two responses to the whole event. 00:06:40.500 --> 00:06:47.699 And the two responses are, first of all, that some believed when they saw what Jesus did. 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:54.000 If you go back to chapter 12, verse 9 here, when the large crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, 00:06:54.000 --> 00:06:59.319 they came not only on account of him, but to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:06.319 And so some, when they heard about Jesus having raised Lazarus, they believed in Jesus. 00:07:06.459 --> 00:07:10.959 And we read back in the previous chapter as well that a plot was hatching. 00:07:11.019 --> 00:07:13.079 That started actually before this. 00:07:13.139 --> 00:07:16.959 You can go back as far as chapter 7, and you can see it brewing from there onwards. 00:07:17.060 --> 00:07:22.079 And it reaches its climax of push in Jesus coming to be delivered over, to be crucified. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:34.680 But what was happening was that many of them actually came to believe in Jesus himself because of what happened with regard to Lazarus. 00:07:35.539 --> 00:07:39.019 That's what happens with changed lives, really, isn't it? 00:07:39.019 --> 00:07:52.319 One of the things you've seen through social media, through news reports in the election of a potential leader for the country is that a lot of the focus has really gone on to Kate Ford because of her testimony. 00:07:52.740 --> 00:07:58.459 Because she's testifying that Jesus is her Lord and her Savior, that her life was changed by him. 00:07:58.919 --> 00:08:00.459 And therefore, people take note of that. 00:08:00.539 --> 00:08:04.359 And people begin to ask a question, well, what is she really saying? 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:09.160 A lot of vitriol, as Martin mentioned in prayer, of course, has gone out towards her. 00:08:09.379 --> 00:08:18.300 And that's why we have to pray for her particularly, that God will keep her and God will maintain her in her own strength of faith and of will. 00:08:19.379 --> 00:08:26.259 But, of course, what's attracted people is that here's somebody in public life who actually believes the Bible, 00:08:27.379 --> 00:08:32.700 who actually believes the Bible to be true, who actually believes in this Jesus. 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:41.060 And these people have been drawn, not necessarily to believe in Jesus, but still drawn nevertheless, 00:08:41.320 --> 00:08:44.580 to try and figure out what is it that moves this woman? 00:08:45.519 --> 00:08:48.120 What is it that makes her life so different? 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:56.779 Why is she so clearly and obviously certain about what she believes, even though many other people ridicule that? 00:08:57.180 --> 00:08:58.420 What's going on with that? 00:08:58.419 --> 00:09:05.659 And that's why it's important for ourselves, of course, to be lights in the world, as Matthew chapter 5 puts it for us. 00:09:06.059 --> 00:09:07.299 Chapter 5, verse 16. 00:09:07.979 --> 00:09:11.079 Let your light also shine, so shine. 00:09:11.179 --> 00:09:14.379 Before men shine, we saw it not so long ago, that passage. 00:09:14.899 --> 00:09:16.759 Let your light so shine. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:18.559 Why does it say so shine? 00:09:19.019 --> 00:09:22.339 Well, in the same way as a lamp shines when it's put on a stand. 00:09:22.340 --> 00:09:33.680 Like that, let your light so shine, so that people may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 00:09:34.040 --> 00:09:34.940 That's the purpose. 00:09:35.420 --> 00:09:37.780 We're not shining to draw attention to ourselves. 00:09:38.460 --> 00:09:42.820 We're not shining so that people will admire our good works and say what good people we are. 00:09:42.820 --> 00:09:50.920 We're shining as lights in the world so that their eye may be drawn to this Christ, the light of the world. 00:09:51.540 --> 00:10:03.940 This man, this savior, this person, this great figure who transforms lives, who changes lives, so that people come to take note of the change in their lives. 00:10:03.940 --> 00:10:05.900 That's the first reaction. 00:10:06.460 --> 00:10:14.580 People believed in Jesus because on account of how many Jews were going away and believing in Jesus. 00:10:16.660 --> 00:10:22.280 Second reaction, though, is very different because some actually went to the Pharisees. 00:10:22.820 --> 00:10:32.120 Back in chapter 11 there and verse 45, many of the Jews who came with Mary and seen what he did believed in him, 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:38.519 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:44.580 Which is a very different reaction on the part of others who, instead of coming to believe in Jesus, 00:10:45.000 --> 00:10:50.299 actually were siding with the Pharisees, with the religious authorities who were determined to get rid of him. 00:10:50.700 --> 00:10:52.139 They didn't like what they had seen. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:10:59.700 And that's a remarkable statement itself of the hardness and of the sinfulness of the human heart. 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:04.340 That you could actually know that Jesus had raised this man from the dead. 00:11:04.520 --> 00:11:06.560 That you could have all the evidence you needed. 00:11:06.860 --> 00:11:09.520 That this Lazarus who had been dead was now alive. 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:12.360 That he had come to be alive by the power of Christ. 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:17.800 And yet instead of coming, as some did, to believe in Jesus, to give their lives over to him, 00:11:18.259 --> 00:11:21.080 it has the opposite effect, the opposite reaction. 00:11:21.660 --> 00:11:26.000 They want to get rid of him just like the Pharisees and the religious leaders do. 00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:28.779 Now it's always like that, isn't it? 00:11:28.980 --> 00:11:34.019 It's always like that, these divided opinions over Jesus. 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:35.940 It will always be like that. 00:11:36.700 --> 00:11:43.899 It's been like that since human beings first came out on the side of God all the way through time back to the Old Testament. 00:11:43.899 --> 00:11:53.220 Because you'll find some people and they will simply not be prepared to accept the testimony that's put before them. 00:11:53.379 --> 00:11:57.559 Whether it's in the Bible or in lives that Jesus has changed. 00:11:58.139 --> 00:12:03.959 Here are other people with a divided opinion, a different opinion. 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:12.519 And you know, it's strange, isn't it, how sometimes the plainer the evidence, the more compelling the evidence, 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:17.440 the more determined some people are to put it behind them, to stamp it beneath their feet, 00:12:17.740 --> 00:12:20.740 and to go on in unbelief and in resistance to Jesus. 00:12:21.900 --> 00:12:24.820 There's a mystery to that, but it's the mystery of sin. 00:12:25.800 --> 00:12:28.300 It's the mystery of rebelliousness against God. 00:12:28.299 --> 00:12:35.740 And you would imagine that virtually everybody who saw Lazarus and knew that he had been raised from the dead 00:12:35.740 --> 00:12:39.879 and now knew that he was sitting here at a table as a guest at dinner, 00:12:40.219 --> 00:12:44.319 you'd imagine that most people would say, I really need to get to know this Jesus. 00:12:45.599 --> 00:12:48.759 Instead, some were saying, we really need to get rid of this Jesus. 00:12:49.500 --> 00:12:50.359 He's a threat to us. 00:12:50.419 --> 00:12:55.719 He's a threat to what we believe and threat to our authority, as the religious leaders were saying about him. 00:12:55.720 --> 00:13:02.440 And that's, of course, true about Christ all the way through the record you have of his life. 00:13:02.500 --> 00:13:09.259 And it's true even to this day when we find the church and when we find the church's witness in the world. 00:13:09.860 --> 00:13:15.320 Take, for example, the two who were crucified on each side of Jesus, one on each side. 00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:18.200 The two malefactors of criminals. 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:28.860 One of them accused Jesus, passed things in his teeth, just abused him verbally and said, 00:13:29.080 --> 00:13:30.879 Are you not the Christ? 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:36.160 Then come down from the cross and save yourself and us. 00:13:37.440 --> 00:13:39.640 Whereas the other one said to him, 00:13:39.639 --> 00:13:44.319 Do you not fear God, seeing we're in the same condemnation? 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:48.539 And that justly or rightly, but this man has done nothing wrong. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:51.279 Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. 00:13:51.480 --> 00:13:52.299 You see the difference. 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:54.019 There's Jesus, the cross in the middle. 00:13:54.439 --> 00:13:57.539 And on each side of him, you might say are representatives of humanity. 00:13:57.539 --> 00:14:02.000 On the one side, rejection. 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:04.519 Hatred. 00:14:06.259 --> 00:14:09.879 On the other side, knowledge, acceptance. 00:14:10.120 --> 00:14:12.419 This is something I need to accept. 00:14:13.500 --> 00:14:16.759 What's happening, this person, what he's doing. 00:14:18.059 --> 00:14:20.539 And all the way through history, that's what you've got. 00:14:21.259 --> 00:14:23.039 Because the cross divides. 00:14:23.039 --> 00:14:28.879 The cross, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, it divides humanity. 00:14:29.620 --> 00:14:30.620 It divides people. 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:33.839 And there's a great gulf between faith and unbelief. 00:14:34.860 --> 00:14:37.339 And that's what it is like to this very day. 00:14:37.740 --> 00:14:40.399 Where you find faith and unbelief divided over. 00:14:41.179 --> 00:14:42.500 The very person of Jesus. 00:14:42.919 --> 00:14:45.139 And the death and resurrection of Jesus. 00:14:46.579 --> 00:14:50.059 And I think in these days itself, we've seen. 00:14:50.059 --> 00:15:00.459 That the more evidence is given plainly and tactfully and lovingly of love for Jesus, of faith in Jesus, 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:05.779 the more virulent opposition and enmity against Jesus comes to the fore. 00:15:06.799 --> 00:15:11.500 Social media is not a place really to have great discussions in any way. 00:15:11.500 --> 00:15:21.320 And in fact, it certainly lends itself, like Twitter or whatever, lends itself just to short, snappy statements, 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:30.000 which, when they're really negative and critical, they just jump out at you and are very sarcastic and biting and bitter. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:41.580 But you can see that the reaction to suggestion, even that Christ is living, that Christ is actually alive, that Christ is one who is worshipped, 00:15:42.220 --> 00:15:47.159 that, well, that's just, to some people, that's just anathema. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:49.460 But it proves the point, doesn't it? 00:15:49.460 --> 00:15:50.899 It proves the Bible to be true. 00:15:50.899 --> 00:15:58.639 It proves the record of Scripture that responses to Jesus are divided either against him or for him. 00:15:58.980 --> 00:16:01.919 And it will always be like that to the end of the age. 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:08.480 So these are two reactions to the raising of Lazarus and to Jesus and what he did. 00:16:08.779 --> 00:16:11.980 And then there's the plan here to kill Lazarus. 00:16:11.980 --> 00:16:22.720 So you go back to chapter 11, verses 50 to 53, you can see there the high priest, Caiaphas, he says to the people, 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:31.340 you don't understand, it's better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish. 00:16:31.800 --> 00:16:35.720 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year, 00:16:35.779 --> 00:16:40.940 he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation and not for the nation only. 00:16:40.940 --> 00:16:44.320 And, of course, the fear was, as it's saying there in verse 48, 00:16:44.980 --> 00:16:48.620 if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, 00:16:48.760 --> 00:16:52.100 and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation. 00:16:52.260 --> 00:16:53.460 We're just going to lose everything. 00:16:53.580 --> 00:16:56.560 The Romans will take over completely, is what they were saying. 00:16:56.680 --> 00:17:01.180 And as Caiaphas said, no, one person, only one person needs to die, 00:17:01.540 --> 00:17:03.220 and that'll be the salvation of the nation. 00:17:03.340 --> 00:17:04.620 That'll be sufficient. 00:17:04.759 --> 00:17:05.700 That'll convince the Romans. 00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:13.340 But, of course, he didn't realize that he was actually speaking a prophecy. 00:17:14.500 --> 00:17:19.940 Without really understanding it, he was actually fitting into the prophecies of the Old Testament, 00:17:20.259 --> 00:17:27.299 that the Messiah would come, and that by his death, salvation would come to human beings like ourselves. 00:17:27.960 --> 00:17:30.019 That's why John is putting it there. 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:33.740 He doesn't mean that he prophesied in the sense that he knew what he was saying. 00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:40.619 But as John is presenting this to us, he's presenting this as within the greater plan of God. 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:43.460 This is really how it's worked out. 00:17:43.460 --> 00:17:52.519 So, isn't it really pretty solemn that here's the man Caiaphas, the high priest that year, 00:17:53.100 --> 00:17:57.360 and what he's really saying, really, is that, you know, if we kill Jesus, 00:17:57.460 --> 00:18:01.900 we can be excused to do such a terrible thing because it's going to save the nation. 00:18:01.900 --> 00:18:07.519 As an excuse for you to try and cover up how horrible a thing it is, 00:18:07.580 --> 00:18:14.280 he's contemplating in giving his authority to Jesus being put to death. 00:18:15.540 --> 00:18:20.460 But the reason, that's really the reason that they want to kill Lazarus, 00:18:20.500 --> 00:18:23.120 is because people are going over to this Jesus. 00:18:23.300 --> 00:18:27.840 The authorities can't actually stop people leaving their traditional religion 00:18:27.840 --> 00:18:30.620 and going over to follow Jesus and be his disciples. 00:18:30.619 --> 00:18:32.119 That's what's angering them. 00:18:32.199 --> 00:18:34.339 That's what's really troubling them. 00:18:34.819 --> 00:18:38.479 And they're concerned that this should actually be brought to an end. 00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:42.539 And the only way they can think of bringing it to an end is to just get rid of both of them. 00:18:42.979 --> 00:18:44.319 Let's kill Lazarus as well. 00:18:44.899 --> 00:18:46.339 Let's get Jesus by all means. 00:18:46.459 --> 00:18:49.959 But if we leave Lazarus arrive, he's going to be a thorn in our flesh. 00:18:50.139 --> 00:18:52.719 He's going to keep coming up with this testimony to Jesus. 00:18:52.719 --> 00:18:56.799 He's going to be the very visible evidence of the power of Christ. 00:18:56.799 --> 00:19:06.619 But hostility against Lazarus is ultimately hostility against Christ himself. 00:19:07.899 --> 00:19:09.819 And you know, it's always like that. 00:19:10.319 --> 00:19:15.519 Whenever you find somebody openly Christian, openly professing their Christianity, 00:19:15.740 --> 00:19:17.799 their faith in Christ in a public way, 00:19:19.079 --> 00:19:22.659 opposition to that is not just opposition to that person. 00:19:22.660 --> 00:19:26.680 It's opposition to the person they're testifying to. 00:19:27.360 --> 00:19:32.000 That's the underlying reason why they wanted to put Lazarus to death. 00:19:32.940 --> 00:19:36.600 Because people were going away and were following Jesus. 00:19:36.779 --> 00:19:38.140 They were coming to believe in Jesus. 00:19:38.600 --> 00:19:39.920 Jesus is the problem. 00:19:41.120 --> 00:19:44.519 Jesus is the one that they just cannot stand. 00:19:44.519 --> 00:19:49.819 You can see John 15, if you cast your eye forward for a minute. 00:19:50.960 --> 00:19:56.339 John 15 and verses 18 to 21 connects the two things together. 00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:00.599 Where Jesus is saying to the disciples here in the upper room now, 00:20:01.339 --> 00:20:06.859 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 00:20:07.539 --> 00:20:12.319 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:17.579 But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. 00:20:18.159 --> 00:20:19.480 Remember the world hate. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:20.859 Therefore, the world hates you. 00:20:21.240 --> 00:20:23.000 Remember the word that I said to you. 00:20:23.439 --> 00:20:25.399 A servant is not greater than his master. 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:29.599 If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. 00:20:30.299 --> 00:20:33.980 If they have kept my word, they will keep yours also. 00:20:34.579 --> 00:20:38.579 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name. 00:20:38.579 --> 00:20:42.019 Because they do not know him who sent me. 00:20:42.899 --> 00:20:44.740 You see what he's linking together there. 00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:47.119 Jesus linking together there. 00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:50.220 The reaction to himself and that of his disciples. 00:20:50.699 --> 00:20:51.939 Well, they're joined together. 00:20:52.199 --> 00:20:54.539 It's essentially the same attitude. 00:20:55.039 --> 00:20:57.460 And it ultimately is against himself. 00:20:57.919 --> 00:20:59.079 They've kept my word. 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:00.659 So they're going to keep yours also. 00:21:00.659 --> 00:21:02.720 Because they know that you're one of mine. 00:21:02.859 --> 00:21:04.039 That you're my followers. 00:21:04.039 --> 00:21:07.019 That you're concerned to present my words to the world. 00:21:09.599 --> 00:21:12.659 If you go forward to Acts chapter 9, you'll find the same thing. 00:21:12.700 --> 00:21:13.500 Acts chapter 9. 00:21:13.960 --> 00:21:14.920 And these opening verses. 00:21:15.059 --> 00:21:18.139 The famous account that you have there of Saul of Tarsus. 00:21:18.500 --> 00:21:20.339 How he came to faith in Christ. 00:21:22.460 --> 00:21:23.480 The chapter begins. 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:27.039 And Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. 00:21:27.480 --> 00:21:31.159 Went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues of Damascus. 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:33.660 And so the narrative goes on. 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:35.620 And as he was approaching Damascus. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:38.519 Suddenly this light from heaven flashed around him. 00:21:39.019 --> 00:21:40.779 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying. 00:21:41.100 --> 00:21:41.840 Saul, Saul. 00:21:42.120 --> 00:21:44.700 Why are you persecuting me? 00:21:46.540 --> 00:21:47.740 Jesus didn't say to him. 00:21:47.940 --> 00:21:49.820 Saul, why are you persecuting these people? 00:21:51.220 --> 00:21:54.660 Why are you actually causing these people such harm? 00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:56.800 Even to the point of some of them being imprisoned. 00:21:56.920 --> 00:21:57.880 Not even put to death. 00:21:58.080 --> 00:21:58.900 That's not what he said. 00:21:58.900 --> 00:22:02.140 Why are you persecuting me? 00:22:03.080 --> 00:22:11.660 In other words, whenever the world persecutes the church for its testimony to Jesus, it's addressed particularly against Jesus himself. 00:22:11.860 --> 00:22:13.580 That's the underlying cause. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.920 That's the underlying grit, if you like, that gets in the eye of the world. 00:22:17.920 --> 00:22:22.980 The fact that it's Jesus that's being obeyed. 00:22:23.420 --> 00:22:24.800 Jesus that's being worshipped. 00:22:25.340 --> 00:22:26.840 Jesus that's being presented. 00:22:27.279 --> 00:22:31.240 The claims of Christ over human life presented in the gospel. 00:22:31.600 --> 00:22:32.800 That's what it's about. 00:22:35.180 --> 00:22:37.759 Why are you persecuting me? 00:22:38.600 --> 00:22:41.100 And he said, who are you, Lord? 00:22:41.099 --> 00:22:47.099 And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 00:22:48.059 --> 00:22:50.339 He's making it clear to Saul of Tarsus. 00:22:50.799 --> 00:22:54.779 I'm the one you're getting at, even though you're aiming at my people. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:57.579 But you hate them because you hate me. 00:22:58.659 --> 00:23:02.439 And your hatred of me is the reason why you're hating them. 00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:14.779 And that same Paul, of course, as he became Paul in Philippians chapter 3, that wonderful passage of testimony, his own personal testimony, we could take it. 00:23:14.779 --> 00:23:22.740 And what he says in chapter 3, just how things happened in his life, what he was like, what he was brought up as. 00:23:23.259 --> 00:23:27.039 But whatever things were gained to me, I counted as loss for Christ. 00:23:27.180 --> 00:23:29.500 Indeed, I count everything as loss. 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:33.940 Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. 00:23:34.339 --> 00:23:38.920 For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. 00:23:39.420 --> 00:23:41.740 In order that I may gain Christ. 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:44.220 In order that I may be found in him. 00:23:44.779 --> 00:23:47.240 In order that I may know him. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:49.899 And the power of his resurrection. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:54.740 And may share in his sufferings. 00:23:55.579 --> 00:23:58.480 Why did Paul suffer as he did as a Christian? 00:23:58.879 --> 00:24:00.220 Why did he suffer as an apostle? 00:24:00.700 --> 00:24:04.139 Why did he suffer for preaching the gospel that he preached in all these places? 00:24:04.940 --> 00:24:06.559 Because he was presenting Christ. 00:24:06.899 --> 00:24:13.099 And because the Christ he was presenting was one that Paul was so united to. 00:24:13.099 --> 00:24:15.399 In fact, the same sufferings. 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:19.680 Christ's essentially were, apart from the fact that Christ were atoning sufferings. 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:22.860 But sufferings in terms of standing for God. 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:26.060 Standing for the righteousness of God. 00:24:26.360 --> 00:24:27.500 The commands of God. 00:24:27.500 --> 00:24:32.319 All of these, the same reaction to Paul as it was to Christ. 00:24:33.119 --> 00:24:36.299 Jesus is at the center of it. 00:24:37.420 --> 00:24:38.599 It's a strange thing, isn't it? 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:46.779 That for so many of these people who say that Jesus, that God is just a figment. 00:24:46.779 --> 00:24:51.700 In fact, I saw one text yesterday, I think it was, against Kate Forbes' faith. 00:24:51.819 --> 00:24:55.000 And a number of things being listed that Kate believed in. 00:24:55.420 --> 00:24:59.079 And especially, as I was with this white guy in the sky. 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:08.599 A description for what that person really believed wasn't, of course, through that white guy in the sky being God. 00:25:11.779 --> 00:25:19.559 Well, here is what Jesus, what Paul is saying about himself sharing in his sufferings. 00:25:19.559 --> 00:25:27.759 Coming to have participation in the reaction of the world against him as against his people. 00:25:29.319 --> 00:25:33.940 And, of course, that plan was really within the plan of God. 00:25:34.059 --> 00:25:36.179 The plan to put Jesus to death. 00:25:36.259 --> 00:25:37.579 They did put Jesus to death. 00:25:37.779 --> 00:25:43.539 It did actually lead to his accusation unjustly and to his crucifixion, of course, as we know. 00:25:43.539 --> 00:25:52.539 But the plan that they had, the plot to kill Jesus, while in a measure that actually came to be true and carried out, 00:25:53.000 --> 00:26:01.460 it's within the overall plan of God, who by the death of Jesus was obtaining life for his people. 00:26:02.579 --> 00:26:05.799 It's interesting, we looked at this in the Gaelic on Sunday morning. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:09.059 Acts chapter 4 puts it this way. 00:26:09.059 --> 00:26:10.759 And again, it's very interesting the way it's put. 00:26:10.759 --> 00:26:14.240 Acts chapter 4, verses 27 and 28. 00:26:16.940 --> 00:26:21.240 When these believers were looking that God would give them the boldness to continue. 00:26:22.139 --> 00:26:29.079 And when they reported what had happened in terms of their imprisonment and so on to their friends. 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:31.940 They then began a prayer meeting. 00:26:32.579 --> 00:26:34.359 And they quoted the second psalm. 00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:37.199 And as you come to verse 27, 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:42.659 For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, 00:26:43.179 --> 00:26:48.919 whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. 00:26:49.059 --> 00:26:49.899 You see the whole gathering? 00:26:50.619 --> 00:26:54.799 That whole gathering of all the ones that are mentioned there. 00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:59.740 They were gathered against you and against your anointed one, against Jesus, 00:27:00.259 --> 00:27:07.980 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to make place, to take place. 00:27:08.740 --> 00:27:14.180 Now you'd expect maybe that that would say to do whatever they actually had proposed or planned against us, Jesus. 00:27:14.299 --> 00:27:19.519 But no, what it's saying is, Lord, they were gathered together in this city, 00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:27.339 all of these people together against you and against your anointed one, Jesus, to do whatever you, God, had purposed. 00:27:28.319 --> 00:27:30.019 That's the bottom line, isn't it? 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:35.400 Whatever God has purposed to come to pass, 00:27:35.960 --> 00:27:40.139 there is no power or ability anywhere that will prevent that. 00:27:40.140 --> 00:27:46.740 Whether it's the promotion of someone like Kate Forbes to office, to first minister, whatever it is. 00:27:47.500 --> 00:27:50.640 If God has purposed that that's what it'll be, that's what it'll be. 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:54.840 If God has purposed that that's not what the outcome will be, it will not be that outcome. 00:27:55.880 --> 00:27:57.900 But it's safe to leave it in the hands of God. 00:27:58.620 --> 00:28:00.180 There's no point in worrying about it, 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:07.780 even though we support all who are actually suffering persecution such as Kate at this time. 00:28:07.779 --> 00:28:12.660 Well, there's the two reactions and the plan to kill Lazarus. 00:28:12.740 --> 00:28:16.660 We'll need to leave it there for tonight because of the wake that's coming shortly. 00:28:17.480 --> 00:28:23.660 But this is really giving us an account of the world's reaction to the gospel, essentially, 00:28:24.279 --> 00:28:33.180 and to the way in which we ourselves have to continue to manage our witness for Jesus' independence on the Lord. 00:28:33.180 --> 00:28:36.940 So let's conclude tonight by singing in Psalm 56. 00:28:39.220 --> 00:28:44.519 Psalm 56, that's on page 73, verses 9 to 13.