Sermon Notes: "If I Had Not Come"

If Jesus had not... we would had not... Filling in those two blanks is the key to understanding the rest of the plan real of God.

Today's Bible Text:

Introduction:

Undoubtedly the topic of sin is one of the least popular subjects you and I could engage in to consider. Today however we will brave those murky and restless waters. We are going to be adults about this here though. We are not going to get ruffled or defensive or judgmental if at all possible; we'll simply endeavor to consider the words and works of Jesus as illustrated in a few nearby ready standing contexts. The overall consideration I would like to leave you with with by the end if this examination is simply this:

Before one can truly know the love and mercy and big picture plan of God one must first have a reasonable acknowledgement of the true depths of our own spiritual sin, other wise there is little draw to find out anything else. Had we not known the depth of our sins we would not know the manifold wisdom of God in any but the most vague sense.

We all have our own private conceptions of what sin is. We all are masterfully adept indeed at minimizing and conflating and compartmentalizing the very notion of sin to levels much more comfortable to ourselves. It is not for ourselves however that the notion of sin is best considered; it is ultimately for God. What we better need is a recognition and acknowledgement of how God Most Holy sees these very things. What is better is for us to force our way through the topic of sin so that we can better be absorbed into the Grace and Virtue man was originally created to be part of.

A simple search through the same book of John this passage is extracted from will suffice to give us the broader sense of what Jesus is attempting to by word and deed make known about sin. These bible links are suggested by the TreasuryOfScripturalKnowledge .

** nkjv@John:3:2
** nkjv@John:5:36
** nkjv@John:7:31
** nkjv@John:9:32
** nkjv@John:10:32-37
** nkjv@John:11:47-50
** nkjv@John:12:10
** nkjv@John:12:37-40

1. The Universal State of Man

nkjv@John:3:2 @ 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."

The context here is that a Jewish leader of the Pharisee has sought a private audience with Jesus secretly in the night. The man Nicodemus acknowledges upfront that the work done by Jesus admittedly suggest that God is with Jesus but, before anything further can be inquired or negotiated, Jesus pointedly inserts "Most assuredly.. unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

The first key I would suggest is the phrase "most assuredly". Jesus is clearly stating this as a matter of absolute fact. It is not a matter of opinion, not a matter of personal belief, nor a matter of hearsay, or some do and some don't need to. The reason further explained "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit".

Man since the fall of Adam, Adam's descendants have not been nor can be born of "Spirit". This my friend is a universal condition. This inability in other scriptures has been called being spiritually dead, being blinded, having a veil, being under the adamic curse, original sin. The best we have been left to is to spiritualize fleshly things such as general conscience and morality and civic law. The best that possibly could be said of Nicodemus and other Pharisee is that they optimize the zeal of our better carnal nature to attempt what is essentially impossible for the carnal nature to achieve minus the ultimate work of Jesus the soon risen Christ. Perhaps commendable prior to Christ but, as soon as Christ is inserted into the scene it becomes a direct opposition to the better plan of God through Christ and spiritual regeneration.

Had Jesus not said this (as well as many complimentary things) "they" (read we) would of had "no sin". This is not to say that have not sinned or that we will not sin, that we are not in a condition of sin, because the sin being presented here is actually the universal state of being without "Spirit". It is to say that the untouched sinner has no conception of just how severe his present state and future condition is. Jesus made this state and condition an immediate point of conversation to even the most zealous and legally minded reformed persons of that day. He would likely make the same immediate point to each of any of us.

2. The Depravity of Even the Highest Forms of Carnal Worship:

nkjv@John:5:36 @ But I have a greater witness than John's; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish--the very works that I do--bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.

The immediate context is that Jesus has been accused of breaking the Sabbath by healing a crippled man by the pool of Bethesda. The religious leaders there immediately sought to kill Him then and there. Instead of diplomatically diffusing the hostile situation, He elevates the accusation to a whole new level by implying that He was equal to God also stating that everything He either says or does He does as has been directed Him by His Father. He goes on to state that the Father has given Him authority to execute all divine judgment and that the Son should be honored just as the Father; "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him".

The tie in in this passage to the passage already discussed is found nkjv@John:5:24 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" echoing a complimentary thought to the "must be born again" "born of Spirit".

The first observation is this: until the dead spiritual center of man can be "quickened" this type of reaction is exactly what can be expected of the fallen nature. The flesh born morality and religion is awkwardly inconsistent, shortsighted if not blind, corrupt at numerous hidden levels, presumptive and self exalting. It places judgment in it's own hands and finds a means of justifying its actions regardless. While believing in a god and presuming to act in that god's name, it feverishly attacks any truer revealed image of God other than it has manufactured or corrupted for itself.

The second observation is that the flesh born religiosity no matter how well intended or pious or zealous it becomes, is largely in direct opposition to the rightful designs of the truest form of God.

The third observation is that none of this talk of the sin nature is to leave us cut off from God and miserable helpless sinners, it is so that we can better understand the need for this Jesus brand of Savior. The deeper we come to acknowledging our present state as it spiritually appears to be, the deeper we can be touched by His glorious mercy, His personable presence, His life giving influence.

3. Fear and/or Belief at a Arm's Distance:

nkjv@John:7:31 @ And many of the people believed in Him, and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?"

The context here is that it has become widely known this far into Jesus' ministry that the religious and political rulers are out to get Jesus. Because of His constant escape from them and continued bold speech at the Jerusalem Temple some bystanders begin to conjecture that the rulers privately know that Jesus truly is Christ. Elsewhere in the scriptures we are told that some rulers do indeed believe in Jesus but, for fear of the raging majority those who do keep silent. Interestingly, Jesus also suggests in a parable that even the hardened stewards know that He is the "Rich Vineyard Owner's" son come to collect his father's rightful produce from the vineyard. Sin often is the reaction of the unregenerate heart in order to conceal or protect or enforce it's diseased self exalting carnal nature.

My first observation is that the natural man can always find sufficient reason to hold the time of Christ at arms length out into the unfulfilled future. Though they believe in the future Christ (or at least His Kingdom), no matter what time it becomes that time is not the time and these signs are not the same signs. Some would reason that it is enough that a person believe in the possibility. Truth be told it would be best that a person recognize when it was that the promised Christ actually happened and get on board with precisely that.

My second observance is that of the impact of crowd/mob/peer mentalities and the often insurmountable precipice of fear. To say that it is not a controlling factor on the natural man is to not know mankind nor it's history at all.

The scariest observation of all is that those "in the know" may indeed know the truth at hand yet be completely given to other contrary motives. Thus is shown the fallen nature at it's most insolent depths. How are any of us not in the know to ever know unless be shown by Christ Himself and Christ alone?

4. Other Common False Notions of Sin:

nkjv@John:9:32 @ Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.

The blind man now healed by Jesus is put before an inquisition of Pharisees along with his parents to get to the bottom of this matter. The plain accounts given to them are not surprisingly deemed insufficient; he (and therefore the truth of the matter) is immediately reviled then cast out. Jesus later goes to the healed now reviled man privately and privately settles the man's newly emerging faith.

In the earlier hostile exchange several different carnal notions of sin are made evident. For the man himself it didn't matter whether Jesus was a sinner as alleged or not, what mattered was that his lifelong blindness was healed. Funny how we over look the most obvious facts of a matter just to race into our unrelenting prepositions.

From the mouths of the Pharisees the unsupportable notion of sin being the cause birth defects and the seeming ludicrous idea of those being born in such sin having the gall to attempt to teach the carnally pious. You see the tools employed by the pious mind do you not? Sin is something you unavoidably are and that they piously are not. It is also again a situation of majority, especially the exalted authority of the majority making impositions on the marked out individual to serve the purposes of the majority.

5. Tactics of the Disbelief:

nkjv@John:10:32 @ Jesus answered them, "Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?"

Once again the issue is Jesus making Himself to be equal to God, sent by His Father, doing as the Father has directed. It is not the works that ultimately offend the carnal religiosity of the unregenerate, it is the speaking of what it considers to be blasphemy; or so it they suggest.

The thing is there is no other logical explanation for what Jesus is doing, it has to be from God; they know this, their adorning public knows this. How do they attack that for which their is no other logical explanation? They have already attempted the Beelzebub things and it was easily thrown back into their face by Jesus. What I am suggesting is that this accusation of blasphemy is the resultant tactic of not having any other weapon left. It is similar to the pick up game of basketball in the neighborhood where you have completely out played your opponent to the basket and all he can counter with is the pronouncement of a egregious personal then technical foul. The tactic is not just the Pharisee's, it is used by all sinners, one to another, one to a saint, one to his Lord and Savior. They make the rules and they are free to change them as advantage determines.

6. The Turbulence of Carnal:

nkjv@John:11:47 @ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, "What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.

We are at a point in the earthly ministry of Jesus where the reactions of several opposing forces are causing a very uncomfortable turbulence in the Holy Land and beyond; even politically. Notice that it is the various reactions good/bad/indifferent to Jesus that is causing all of this; Jesus is quite calm and collected and focused. People are afraid of what other people may or may not do. What people want more than even truth and godliness is peace and civil tranquility. Often it is "expedient" that the truth and calmness and healing and miraculous be removed then all the reactionaries be discomforted. "...it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish."

The unrest is caused by their inability spiritually to react, they can only react from the flesh. Darkness loves the dark rather than the light. Mary your heart will be pierced through for this child of yours shall reveal the thoughts and intents of all mankind. The refrain rings true "If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father".

Let us not think that "they have hated both Me and my Father" does not mean us as well. It may be said of all mankind.

The odd thing is that the council gathered in this passage had tried many times to put a final end with Jesus but, the power to do so was neither in their hand nor was it His time. They did not take Jesus' life from Him, Jesus gave His life in obedience to the Father and He received it back from the Father as well. Therefore, the natural man (he born only of the flesh and not the Spirit) can plan and scheme and conspire and be used as some type of secondary instrument, in the grand scheme of things he is only a loud mouth insolent reactionary exposing only his sin. He is in the state of sin and therefore he sins plain and simple. Very little power other than that is actually given him.

7. Killing Of All Other Evidences:

nkjv@John:12:10 @ But the chief priests plotted to put Lazarus to death also,

Lazarus was the one Jesus had raised from the grave remember. The man raised by Jesus presented a very real and threatening problem for the opposition no doubt. Lazarus continues to present a real and penetrating problem for the critics even today; some how he must be done away with logically.

Recall at the time of his raising even his own sisters (two of Jesus' most ardent believers) had tremendous difficulty anticipating what Jesus was about to do as did His own disciples. We see that even unregenerate believers as devout as devout can be are handicapped by the same universal shortcomings as all others. As much as they do believe in certain areas, in other areas the suffer the sin of disbelief. As much as they have faith, it is said to be of "little faith".

8. God: Behind the Scenes

nkjv@John:12:37-40 @ But although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: "Lord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?" Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again: "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them."

This is a tough one to explain without raising a lot of controversy among so called free thinkers. It appears that at least up to some point in time the majority rulers could have believed in Jesus (not that they would have but, the opportunity existed) but, that by now God somehow closed the final door on their eyes and heart. There are interpretations along the lines that God actively caused the hardness and others that suggest that God simply lifted whatever restraint He previously had over them that had kept them from going any further into their own desired disbelief. Remember either way, that these were individuals that were given by HIM HIS very oracles and commandments, that they had been given to the nation as HIS shepherds to pastor over HIS flock. This was a most holy and consecrated duty each of them were given that they of their own free and sinful will had long chosen to near abandon and trample like pearls under foot.

When precisely this hardening took effect we cannot precisely pinpoint. Remember that the actual presence of the LORD had been removed from the Temple a couple hundred of years before this and that no prophet had been given Judah in that same time up till the Prophet John the Baptist the final herald of promised Messiah. The restraints may have been lifted else the blindness inflicted at that time and "waxed gross" ever since. Perhaps it is at this particular time or a combination of both. The lesson should be either way that the anointed of God should not ever willfully neglect and defile the things of God else they may be used of God to serve HIS higher purposes in this fearful fashion.

So then what can the rest of us learn about the nature of sin from all this?

Conclusions to be Made:

This is never a pleasant point of the "sin" conversation but, let us begin by asking these tow important questions:

1. What is it about the sin nature that warrants God's harsh judgment upon it?

2. What is it about about the sacrifice of Christ Jesus that warrants the absolute removal of that very judgment?

What is it about the sin nature that warrants God's harsh judgment upon it? Is it that we are so oblivious to it that the Mosiac Law has to be over laid upon it for us to even know that it is there? Is it that we have wantingly coveted our neighbors ox or have entertained lustful thoughts or been angry with our brother? Is it that we have loved God to a large extent though admittedly it has not been with "all" our heart or entire mind? Or is it that we are indeed spiritually dead and that there is literally no way for us to move along in God's eternal design until we have been made in fact alive? Is it that this dead nature has such a gripping hold on so many of us that we refuse to believe and serve anything other even if it way at the onset basically only a well founded hope?

Could we then agree that under these heightened circumstances perhaps God's holy distaste for it and judgment is warranted?

What is it about about the sacrifice of Christ Jesus that warrants the absolute removal of that very judgment? Is it that it cost Him His own life and blood to purchase? Is it that He had to humble His very triune deity and become of human flesh to qualify to intercede with the Father on HIS and our behalf? Is it that His blessed and sinless righteousness is imputed on to each of us so that we can stand before the Father entirely justified as if we had never sinned before though we certainly have (and probably still will)? Is it that this gift of His grace is freely given with out upfront price or work of repayment other than our belief and consecrated worship? Yes it is all these things and more that warrant this removal of otherwise deserved judgment.

No other religion or prophet has this to say about sin nor this to offer as remedy. The greatest sin once offered this bountiful grace becomes not believing in it enough to give one's self over to it's many spiritual and lively blessings.

The topic of sin doesn't have to be a dark and uncomfortable topic unless you plan on remaining in it for any further length of time. If that is the case then you will have to find ways of hiding or pushing it aside, then you'll have to prove it wrong or blasphemous, then you'll have to risk the fate of waxing too gross or having the restraints of further reprobate disbelief taking final unpardonable bondage.

The closer I personally have examined the sin nature by today's nkjv@John:15:22-24 lens the more I come to realizing there is a Story behind the many unfolding gospel stories, a bigger more definite picture where part of me is each one of these multifaceted story characters. There is a part of me that is pure Pharisee, perhaps not of the majority I hope but of the minority fearful of advancing anything Christ radical within my own Pharisaical group. I see a courageous yet awkward stumbling disciple with measure of faith and heavenly aspirations to go with it but, minus the ability often to make out of the situation what spiritually needs to be made out of it to be of any reasonable service to my master. I see in myself even that citizen who would rather leave things just as they are for the sake of personal tranquility and not having yet to decide on any of this right now until better proven. I even see myself as one who for his entire life time has been blind, now suddenly made to see, glorying God for no other reason than the fact that I now for whatever reason thanks to a some total stranger can for the first time see; having to suffer the judgement of others (whom should know better) that for whatever reason (perhaps it doesn't matter) it has happened to me. The one thing however that I do not see in myself is the role in this bigger Story played by Jesus my Savior; I can not rationally come to figure why it is that He has assumed that role for me considering all of this other sinful host of characters in me. I most certainly have done nothing well to in any way deserve that. It leads me to believe that this greater Story has nothing to do about me, I no longer am the Story's lead; it only has everything to do about Him.

We began today examining a simple state of fact made by Jesus:

We've only given consideration to a brief sample within John's particular gospel so far to make our case. I would invite any of you not already convinced to take this simple lens of focus and apply it to any other three gospels accounts of things Jesus said of did that could provide you an even more detailed understanding of the sin nature; if you so dare. Remember though that the object of attempting to better understanding the sin nature is really to better understand the deliverance from it that has been offered you in the person and accomplishment of Christ Jesus. The pursuit is not to go deeper into the dark but further out into His light. Remember that and I think that you will be fine.

May the Holy Father and Holy Spirit bless your better beliefs and quicken you whole by the Word of the Glorious Gospel of the Holy Son: Christ Jesus our Lord... AMEN!

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