Sunday, 4/1/18 - Resurrection Sunday ~ Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Lesson # 18-036

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z89tsOv44Nk&feature=youtu.be

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

Resurrection Sunday - Truth

As we celebrate our Lord’s death and Resurrection today, I wanted to share with you a passage I have always been drawn to. It is the passage when Jesus Christ was before Pontius Pilate during His trials for crucifixion. In that scene, we see Jesus having a brief discourse with Pilate regarding who He is. In that event, Jesus was using the opportunity to witness the truth to Pilate for salvation. John, in his gospel, writes more about this scene than any of the other gospel writers.

John 18:33, “Pilate therefore entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus, and said to Him, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’”

The question Pilate asked Jesus in vs. 33, “Are You the King of the Jews?” is a most significant question for Pilate. It was asked to determine whether Jesus constituted a threat to Roman civil order. Such order could be threatened by rival kings. So, he asked Jesus whether He considered Himself King of the Jews or not.

John 18:34, “Jesus answered, ‘Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?’”

This is a pointed question. You see if Pilate had said this on his “own initiative” it would have meant that he was on the path to believing in the Messiah.

John 18:35, “Pilate answered, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You up to me; what have You done?’”

This was a disheartening response by Pilate, because he had not contemplated who Jesus was. He was only going along with what the Pharisees wanted him to do. Nevertheless, if Pilate later recalled this conversation, he might have pondered Jesus’ question.

John 18:36, “Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting, that I might not be delivered up to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”

Jesus’ reply to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world,” was a way to tacitly admit that He was the King of the Jews, vs. 37, but clarifying that He was not a king such as the Jews or Romans were expecting. He was a Priestly-King in the order of Melchizedek, (Heb 5:6-10; 7:1), who came to sacrifice and save.

Heb 7:1, “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, …”

Heb 5:6-10, “Just as He says also in another passage, "YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK." ⁷In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety. ⁸Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. ⁹And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation, ¹⁰being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.”

In addition, we see something of the Angelic Conflict here, as this world is currently not Jesus

Christ’s kingdom. It is currently Satan’s kingdom, as noted in Mat 4:8-10.

Mat 4:8-10, “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; ⁹and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me." ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, ' YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"

Now back in John 18,

John 18:37, “Pilate therefore said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth (MARTUREO ALETHEIA). Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Jesus’ purpose as The King was the unusual one of testifying to the truth. His reply to Pilate that He came from heaven, from God the Father, to witness the truth means, He came to teach the way of salvation to all of mankind, including Pilate and the Romans who were about to crucify Him.

John 18:38a, “Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?"

Unfortunately for Pilate, he did not understand the truth at that time. Maybe, later in life, when reflecting upon his interactions with Jesus he did, but at this time, and as far as scripture is concerned, we see that Pilate did not know the truth, even when it was standing right in front of him, as Jesus is, “The Way, the Truth, and the Life,” John 14:6.

John 18:38b, “And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, "I find no guilt in Him.”

It is fascinating that after Jesus admitting that He was a King, when rival kings where a threat to Rome, that Pilate finds, “no guilt in Him.” Oh, from the mouths of babes! Pilate did not understand that Jesus was the Messiah King, yet he declared that He was without guilt, as Jesus Christ is the spotless lamb, the perfect sacrifice according to God’s Law.

And as you know the rest of the story, after the back and forth between the Pharisees, Herod, and Pilate, Pilate decides to grant the Pharisees their wish and have Jesus crucified. As a result, the true sacrifice for Israel and the entire world was completed, Heb 9:11-2.

Heb 9:11-12, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; ¹²and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.”

Heb 9:26b, “… but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.”

The spiritual death of Jesus Christ on the Cross paid for our sins. His physical death demonstrated the completion of God’s plan for our salvation. Then three days later, Jesus rose from the dead to signify the victory won over sin and death.

1 Cor 15:54-58, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. ⁵⁵"O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; ⁵⁷but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”

Now that the victory over sin and death has been won by Jesus Christ, it is our job to go out and tell the whole world of this eternal truth, just as the Apostle began to do on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after our Lord’s resurrection.

Acts 2:21-36

21  'And it shall be, that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' (Joel 2:32)

22  "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know--

23  this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

24  " And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

25  "For David says of Him, ' I was always beholding the Lord in my presence; for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken.

26  'Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; moreover my flesh also will abide in hope;

27  Because you wilt not abandon My soul to hades, nor allow Your holy one to undergo decay.

28  'You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.' (Psa 16:8-11)

29  " Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.

30  "And so, because he was a prophet, and knew that ‘God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants (fruit of his loins) upon his throne,’ (Psa 132:11)

31  he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that ‘He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay.’ (Psa 16:10)

32  "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses.

33  "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear.

34  "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ' The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand,

35  until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet."' (Psa 110:1)

36  "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ-- this Jesus whom you crucified."

And if anyone has a doubt about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Darrel Bock wrote a nice short piece regarding the veracity that Christ was resurrected:

 “The story of the four gospels stands in contrast to the culture around them, which did not regard women as reliable enough to be witnesses. All four Gospels insist that Jesus first appeared to women. This detail, running against the larger, ancient culture as it does, is one of the key evidences that these Resurrection stories were not invented by a church trying to give Jesus a higher status than He really had. Had believers merely invented these appearance-and-empty-tomb stories with the hope that they would convince the culture about Jesus, they would not have unanimously picked women to bear the story’s burden to be true. That Jesus selected women as the first witnesses to God’s great act is an affirmation of their value and merit before God.” (Breaking the DaVinci Code, pages 138-139)

So, the truth is:

1. That which the Lord brought with Him when He came down from heaven, John 18:37.

John 18:37, “Therefore Pilate said to Him, ‘So You are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice’.”

2. The gospel of truth came by Jesus Christ, John 1:17.

John 1:17, “For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.”

3. Jesus Christ is, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” for salvation because, “no one comes to the Father but through Me,” John 14:6.

4. The Word of God that sanctifies, John 17:17.

John 17:17, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

5. Receiving the truth of salvation results in eternal security, Eph 1:13.

Eph 1:13, “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.”

6. Having been saved, we are to go out and communicate the truth of salvation, just as the apostles did, 1 Tim 2:7.

1 Tim 2:7, “For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.”

Communion is to be taken with truth in the heart, 1 Cor 5:7-8.

1 Cor 5:7-8, “Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. ⁸Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”