Mark Dever
Holiness Together
God is holy.
God calls us to be holy.
But in a fallen world, it is hard to be holy.
The world does not like us or our message.
At times, the church in the past has defended sin as virtue—slavery, etc.
We are tempted to hypocrisy.
Many of us do not seem interested in God.
We show we are more interested in what God can do for us rather than who God is.
Romans 6:7 tells us we are freed from sin.
We are free to live holy.
We are freed from the bitter taskmaster that is sin.
The local church is not only the focus of our alternative life that we live, it is also the means God has given us to live that alternative life.
Point 1: Commit yourself to preach through the Bible.
The way to make sure you keep preaching the gospel is that you keep preaching the Bible.
We only get the message of the gospel from outside of ourselves, from the revealed word of God.
Nobody would have ever thought up the message of the gospel.
Preaching through the whole Bible makes sure that we do not end up with a gospel that is misshapen.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable.
Jesus told his disciples to teach people to obey all he has commanded.
We must teach doctrine and practice.
Point 2: Emphasize what the Bible teaches about God.
We need to teach people about the Holy One if they are to be excited about holiness.
Holiness is godliness, being like God in our character.
Romans 3:25-ff
Why did God send Jesus and save people?
He did so to demonstrate his own righteousness.
Jesus came to die and rescue people because God loves himself—yes he loves us, but the Scripture shows us that this is about the glory of God first.
God’s righteousness is the moral core of his character.
God wants his righteousness to be known.
That is clear in the entire storyline of the Bible.
And in that, we get wisdom as to what we are to be like as we better know what God is like.
We want to keep God before the minds of our hearers.
The world is constantly conspiring to erase the truth of God from our minds.
The Old Testament constantly tells God’s people to remember.
Why? Because we constantly forget.
Point 3: Emphasize how you become a Christian and what it means to be one.
How do we teach them to avoid false teaching?
We have to teach them the true gospel.
We need to share the gospel like we see in the Bible if we want to see conversions like we see in the Bible.
The holiness of the local church should both intrigue and convict someone who visits but who does not know Christ.
Point 4: Teach Christians to commit to love.
We are not telling you just to love, but to commit to love each other.
Help your members to cultivate the desire to love God’s people.
God loves his people.
We are not, in and of ourselves, loveable; yet God loves us.
When we are saved, we are reoriented.
We get a new ability to love the people of God.
We begin to love more like Christ loves.
We love because he first loved us.
The commitment to love Christians, especially our own local church, helps us to love those we would not be predisposed to love on our own.
Church covenants matter here.
We promise before God and each other to love and care for each other.
If you know all about good theology, but it does not change the way you act toward other Christians, you are not saved.
Point 5: Pray that we are more concerned about our members than the number of our members.
In the parable of the lost sheep, would we care about the one who wandered away if we got a few more to come in?
Our work does not end when somebody joins our church. That is often when our work begins.
Point 6: Teach the congregation that they must choose between hypocrisy and church discipline.
You will have either, but you cannot have neither.
Church discipline is all the ways that we teach each other.
It is formative, as we learn from each other.
It is corrective, as we call people to repentance.
The Lord’s Supper forces this question upon us.
Church discipline is the antidote that the Lord has given us for hypocrisy.
Failing at church discipline means our church misrepresents God.
As a Congregation, we have to choose holiness that calls us to repent.
Hypocrisy – You will tolerate unrepentant sin.
Point 7: Teach the church how to find the right pastors.
Pastors are not best identified by resumes, personality inventories, business practices, or weekend assessments.
They are best attested by pastors who know them and who are respected by the church.
Holiness is best seen over time.
It is our role as pastors to teach the church what a pastor is.
Today’s sermons are preparing your members to pick tomorrow’s pastors.
Help those who show a desire to enter ministry.
Train them. Send them to seminary, raise them up for service in your church or in another.
No decent pastor you know is self-made.
The world is taught to connect authority to authoritarian.
Satan’s trick is to tell us that God cannot tell you no without saying he does not love you.
The world believes that no means you do not love me.
But this is not the way of God.
Point 8: Pray publicly and specifically about hopes and problems
Prayerlessness is self-confidence.
We need to show our understanding of our weakness.
We teach our congregations by what we pray about every Sunday.
How do we reorient our people by prayer?
Praise God.
Confess sins.
Pray for the regular preaching of God’s word.
Pray for people of other people groups to be saved.
Pray for missionaries.
Is the image your church projects only one of strength and progress?
Spend so much time praying in the service that the people who only pretend to believe in God get bored.
Point 9: Explain how holiness does not compete with missions but is essential to missions.
The self-denial that is cultivated in holiness is necessary for missions.
We must learn not to sacrifice missions to our own comforts, and this is the same self-denial.
Your most important contribution to others is your knowing God in a way that makes you different from others.
A church that tolerates the unholiness of unrepentant sin today is a church that will not be sending missionaries tomorrow.
If you are not at odds with sin, you are not at home with Jesus.
WE have to be humble and hopeful.
Holiness must not become a threat to us or a license for a legalistic pride.
Start with humility.
Church members are dear to us because they are dear to Jesus.
Let this make you be hopeful.
Let your identity be taken, not from sin you still fight, but from the promised holiness that is coming.
Shepherds Conference 2018 Session 10 Notes
Steven Lawson
Christ: The Head of the Church
During the Reformation, there was a crisis of authority.
Who speaks for God: the church or Scripture?
Who is the head of the church?
Rome says it is the Pope.
The authority of heaven, they claim, is invested in the Pope.
The reformers pushed back and called him antichrist.
They argue that the only head of the church is Jesus Christ.
In England, Henry VIII proclaimed himself to be head of the church of England.
English reformers defied the monarch and claimed that Christ is the only head of the church.
The same happened in Scotland.
This is not an incidental matter; it is a fundamental matter.
No Pope is the head of the church.
No hierarchy of men is the head of the church.
No pastor, elder board, or congregational vote is the head of the church.
There is but one head of the church, and he is the one who is seated at the right hand of God the Father and who purchased the church by the shedding of his own blood.
The meaning of Christ’ headship
The ministries of Christ’s headship
The Mandate of Christ’s headship
The meaning of Christ’s headship
Two concepts in Ephesians 1:20-ff
First, Jesus is our ruling head.
Jesus is sovereign, having supreme authority over all matters that transpire in the church.
He is the ruler of the church.
He is of superior authority and rank.
This is somewhat like when we call a person a head of state or the head of a corporation.
Verse 20
God the Father raised Jesus from the dead.
He is a living head.
The Father seated Jesus at his own right hand.
The Father enthroned Jesus and invested in him all authority.
Verse 21
Jesus is far above all other powers or authorities.
This is supremely supreme.
He is above all angels in any hierarchy.
He is above any name that is named.
That includes all worldly rulers.
Not only is this true in this age, but in eternity future.
There are no term limits upon the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will never step aside.
Verse 22
God the Father put all things in subjection to the Son.
Subjection is a military term for subordinates lining up under a superior.
Everything in the universe is in submission and subordination under the supreme sovereignty of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is a conquering king.
All things are like a defeated adversary under the victorious king’s feet.
None of us can comprehend just how sovereign Jesus is.
In Revelation 19, Jesus returns with many crowns.
He is sovereign.
Our minds cannot grasp how in control the Lord Jesus is.
Matthew 28:18
Jesus has all authority.
There is no authority outside of Jesus Christ.
Verse 22
The Father has given Jesus as head over all things to the church.
Head means ruling authority.
It is supreme to the extreme.
Jesus’ will is supreme in all matters, his word is final.
Jesus is the head and we are the body.
Jesus is Lord and we are the slaves.
Jesus is King and we are the subjects.
Second, Jesus is the organic head.
He is also the source of all life to the church.
He infuses life and grace into the church.
He gives his wisdom and power and love and peace to the church.
We have no need but that Jesus is all-sufficient to meet that need.
The fullness of him…
Everything he is.
… of him who fills all…
He pours himself into us.
He fills us and lives within us.
He is our ample supply.
He lives within us as we live for him.
Verse 23
He fills all in all.
In all places, all times, he fills all in all.
The meaning of his headship is that he is over us as ruling head and is in us as organic head.
He is lord and life.
He is over us as sovereign and in us as source and supply for all we need.
The ministries’ of Christ’s headship
Acts 1:1
… all that Jesus began to do and teach…
There is more he will do and teach in the church.
First, as head, he has the authority to choose his leaders.
Acts 1:24
The head of the church has to supply the replacement for Judas.
They prayed and said to Jesus, “you Lord…”
They pray, looking to Jesus.
Only Jesus knows the hearts of all men.
They ask Jesus to show which man Jesus has chosen.
Jesus controls the casting of the lot into the lap.
The head of the church sovereignly controlled the choice of the replacement.
They do not ask Jesus to confirm their choice.
They humble themselves and ask Jesus to show which one he had chosen.
The head of the church will move to bring leaders into the local church.
God is the one who calls and Christ appoints the leadership in the church.
Second, as head he has the authority to call a people to himself.
Acts 2:39
Jesus fulfills what he said in Matthew 16:18.
He begins to build his church by his sovereign grace.
Not every person on earth is built into the church.
Verse 39
as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
Jesus is the name upon which we call for salvation.
God the Father has made him Lord and Christ.
It is this Lord, in verse 39, who is calling out a people to himself.
This is an effectual call.
The Bible talks about 2 types of calls.
There is the external call.
That comes from all sorts and goes to the ear.
There is the internal call of the Lord Jesus.
This call actually summons subpoenas the one who is called.
When Jesus calls like this, those called come.
John 10:22
Jesus calls his sheep and they come.
Jesus as the ruling head is sovereign over who he calls into the church.
No one comes into the true church except Jesus calls them.
And all he calls will come.
Thus Jesus assures the effectiveness of gospel preaching.
We give the external call.
Jesus gives the internal, effectual call.
The only way we know the Father is because Jesus willed to show us the father.
Acts 3:16
All whom he calls believe.
Why?
Jesus gives them faith to believe.
Acts 3:16, faith is in Jesus and it comes from Jesus.
The faith comes through him.
As Jesus builds his church, he gives people saving faith so that they can exercise faith in him.
He is both the source and the object of saving faith.
Faith that is in Jesus is faith that is through Jesus is a faith that comes from Jesus.
Hebrews calls Jesus the author and perfecter of faith.
Philippians 1:29
It was granted to you to believe.
George Whitfield said that man has free will to go to hell, but no free will to go to heaven.
Spurgeon said that he has heard much about free will, but he has never yet seen it.
As head of the church, he has authority to grant repentance.
Acts 5:31
We are talking about how Jesus builds his church one soul at a time.
We have no ability to conjure up our own forgiveness.
But there is only one active agent who grants repentance.
The one who gives forgiveness is also the one who gives repentance.
Also in Acts 11, same thing.
God grants the gentiles the repentance that leads to life.
As we proclaim the gospel, God has gone before us and God works with us and he calls out his chosen, gives them faith, and grants them repentance.
This is what Jesus does to build his church.
He has authority to convert his enemies.
Acts 9:1
Jesus can overcome any and all resistance.
If God can do this with Saul, he can do this with anybody.
Saul was breathing threats and murders against the disciples of the Lord.
He was hunting Christians.
Suddenly Christ appeared.
Saul fell to the ground.
Saul asks, Who are you, Lord?”
He answered the question himself before the end of the sentence.
Jesus brought an enemy to his knees and brought him to a place of self-denial.
This is a prototype of every conversion.
This is what Jesus did in your life if you are actually converted.
He humbled you and brought you low.
Verse 15
Saul is a chosen instrument of Christ’s.
No way could Saul have resisted that mighty call.
When Jesus calls, we come.
Acts 16
As head, he has authority to open closed hearts.
Verse 13-ff
God opened Lydia’s heart to respond to the things spoken…
Her heart had been closed.
God opened it.
Paul gave the external call.
Jesus gave the internal call.
Lydia then responded.
Verse 14, opened.
Verse 26, the same opened is used of the prison doors opened.
The earthquake opened the doors.
God opened Lydia’s heart.
This is how Jesus builds his church.
He blows the doors open in hardened hearts.
He sends spiritual earthquakes to open our hearts.
Acts 18
As head, he has authority to guarantee gospel success.
He has his people who will believe and who will respond.
Verse 9
The Lord tells Paul to keep preaching.
Jesus says that he is with Paul.
Jesus says that he has many people in the city.
This included those who would be saved.
Acts 20
As head, Jesus has authority to purchase and possess the church.
Verse 28
Paul is speaking to the elders in Ephesus.
Speaking of the church,
Which he purchased with his own blood.
Jesus purchased the church of God with his own blood.
The church belongs to him by right of ownership.
As the good shepherd, Jesus laid down his life for the sheep, his sheep.
Jesus did not die in vain.
All for whom he died he calls.
All whom he calls, he gives saving faith.
Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.
Ephesians 5:1, Jesus gave himself up for us.
The mandate of Christ’s headship
None of us are free to reinvent church.
None of us are free to come up with our own way of doing church.
The head of the church has already instructed us how he desires to be worshipped.
He has shown us how he desires the body to function.
This is the regulative principle.
The activities of the church will be regulated by what Jesus says.
He has every right to govern every square inch of our church because he is the head of the church.
Shepherds Conference 2018 Session 8 Notes
Tom Pennington
The Mission of the Church
What is our primary mission?
We have multiple categories of responsibility.
To God
To the church
To the world
What is the primary task that Christ assigned the church when it comes to the world?
This question has become more clouded over the past century or two.
Liberalism removed a belief in the need for salvation.
Liberal Protestantism believed the church’s mission is the salvation of society, not of individuals.
Fundamentalism knew this was not our goal.
Stott said that mission is the whole Christian lifestyle, including evangelism and social responsibility.
Emergent church tried to combine the social and individual spheres.
Social gospel became social justice, a rebranding of the ethics of liberalism.
Chan, Keller, and N. T. Wright also promote social justice.
As believers, we cannot be indifferent to the needs of those around us.
We ought to do what we can to alleviate the suffering of those whom God brings across our paths.
Is this redefinition of mission a biblical definition?
Is social justice part of, or all of, the primary mission of the church?
Matthew 28:16-20
Familiar text.
What it actually says may be different than what many think it says.
This is our primary mission.
4 crucial truths about our mission in these verses
Truth 1: Its singular importance.
Why do we consider this command to be so important?
Because of Matthew’s placement of it in his gospel
Matthew did not record the ascension or other teachings of that month.
Jesus made this Jesus’ last words he recorded.
Because of Jesus’ emphasis on this particular meeting.
The NT records multiple meetings between the resurrected Jesus and his disciples.
Multiple meetings on Resurrection Sunday.
One meeting 8 days later.
But Matthew focuses on this meeting.
About 9 days after the resurrection, the 11 left for Galilee.
Jesus gave them this command to go to Galilee several times.
The trip would have taken at least 3 days.
7 of them went fishing after they arrived.
After that, Jesus met them on the mountain in Galilee.
Jesus clearly considered this meeting strategic.
Because of the disciples to whom he gave it
Jesus directed this command to the 11.
But he gave it to others as well.
In verse 10 of Mat 28, Jesus’ brethren were told to go to Galilee.
That refers to more than the 11.
Jesus plans to speak to a larger group in Galilee.
In 1 Cor 15, Jesus appeared to more than 500 at once.
Many think this would have been the crowd when the Commission was given.
Most of Jesus’ disciples were in Galilee.
Verse 17 says that some doubted while others worshipped.
The 11 had already come to confidence that Jesus was raised.
It is others, Galilean disciples, who struggled to believe.
Jesus gave the commission to all who had come to believe in him.
Thus, this is for us too.
Because of the deliberate comprehensiveness of this command.
Jesus uses the word all 4 times.
All authority
All nations
All things I have commanded you
I am with you all the days.
Because of the repetition of the commission
This same basic command is repeated 3 other times.
Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1
Mark 16 in the long ending shows us that the early church knew this was important.
It is impossible to overstate the singular importance of this commission and command outlined here.
Truth 2: Its supreme authority
Jesus makes a great claim.
Verse 18
All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Jesus had always possessed supreme authority.
Jesus had authority on earth even before his death.
Matthew 7:29; 9:6; 10:8; 11:25-ff.
In Matthew 11:25-ff, all things have been handed over to me by my Father.
Everything necessary for Jesus to accomplish his ministry is under his authority.
After the resurrection, the sphere of his authority is absolute.
All authority is his.
Eph 1:20
The Father seated Jesus in the supreme place of authority.
Philippians 2, Jesus is exalted to the highest place.
Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth.
He rules everything in the universe.
That was prophesied of the messiah.
Daniel 7:13-ff
Jesus had already claimed that passage to himself.
His dominion is everlasting, over all, never destroyed.
Why point this out?
Jesus is about to give his church an audacious mission.
Jesus has supreme authority.
He has the authority to establish the mission of your church.
He has the right to define the mission and the power to carry it out.
Christ will build his church.
Truth 3: Its specific orders
Verse 19
Therefore, because Jesus has the right to rule the church, he gives us our marching orders.
These orders have not changed over 2,000 years.
Go
This is a contrast to the command of chapter 10:5.
Do not go in the way of gentiles in chapter 10.
Now Jesus says to go to the nations.
Go is a participle
Having gone, make disciples.
Is this a command to go?
Yes it is.
This participle is an attendant circumstance.
It ties to the main verb.
It is right for translations to translate the participle as an imperative.
You could not make disciples of the nations if you stayed in Israel.
Of course Jesus intended that some of his disciples were to relocate to carry out the mission.
Peter went to Italy.
Thomas when to India.
The stoning of Stephen sent others out.
Jesus wanted some of those who heard him to leave home and go.
He still expects some of our church members to go too.
We should pray that God will raise up people in our churches and families to go.
We need to challenge our people to go.
We need to consider going ourselves.
But Jesus did not intend that all 500 would relocate.
Many, think James, remained in Israel for the rest of their lives.
All nations included their nation.
We are called to carry out the Great Commission.
We may do so in our neighborhood or around the world.
But we do not get a pass from this Commission.
Every disciple and every church must own the world-wide mission of the church.
Jesus says go.
Make disciples
This is the main verb of the sentence.
It is not optional.
What does it mean?
Carson – disciples are those who hear, understand, and obey Jesus’ teaching.
Acts 11:26 – the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch
To be a Christian is to be a disciple.
The mission is making disciples.
We do not call people to ourselves or to a cause.
We call people to follow a person, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The goal is not decisions, but disciples.
What is the nature of a spiritual relationship with Jesus?
Call Jesus teacher and Lord, John 13.
He is our teacher, we are the students.
We are the slaves, he is the master.
This is not about a simple prayer or momentary faith.
It is not about a simple acceptance of facts.
It is a call to follow Jesus as Master and Teacher.
Acts 14:21
They preached the gospel and made many disciples.
Acts 13:48 – The ones appointed to eternal life believed.
Preach the gospel, proclaim the word, and that is how you make disciples.
Let us not get so excited in our goals to help people and fix the city that we lose track of what makes Christian mission Christian.
All the nations
Jesus means all nations, including Israel.
Luke 24:47, repentance is proclaimed to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.
Ephesians 3:11, the eternal plan.
Jesus says he came to seek and save the lost.
The theme of the Bible: God is redeeming a people by his Son, for his Son, to his own glory.
What does the command to make disciples of all nations mean?
Some leave and go to other nations.
For others, this command may be a call to take vacation, travel overseas, and help missionaries.
Even if you do not go to the nations, you are responsible for the nations.
Pray, give, care for missionaries.
Do the people in our churches understand that every believer must actively support Christ’s international mission.
What always accompanies true disciple-making?
Baptizing
We baptize into the name (singular) of the one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus puts himself in the middle of the trinity.
Jesus claims deity right here.
Baptize means to dip or plunge under water.
It was often accompanied by the verbal affirmation that Jesus is Lord.
True disciples profess submission to Jesus’ authority.
Baptism is important.
Do not downplay it if Jesus put it right here in the commission.
1 Corinthians 12:13
All believers are baptized into the body of Christ.
Acts 2:41, water baptism serves as a picture of that spiritual reality and as initiation to the church.
Teach
Every disciple is to be taught all Jesus has commanded.
There is a demand that preachers have a biblically-centered teaching ministry.
We do not teach our own ideas, we teach all Jesus has commanded.
If you do not teach all Jesus has commanded, you do not fulfill the Great Commission.
Teach them to obey.
Our goal is not information but transformation.
We help saved sinners move toward being sanctified saints.
True disciples practice what they have heard.
John 8:31
The Bible knows nothing of a believer who glories in justification and ignores sanctification.
That Jesus includes baptism and instruction should transform our understanding of the Commission.
This happens in the local church.
The mission is only accomplished when we have made true disciples and when they are baptized and when they are taught the Scriptures and when they are taught to obey.
We send people to make disciples.
Truth 4: Its sustaining promise
Verse 20
I am with you always.
Surely, for certain, I am with you.
The pronoun is included interestingly in the original.
Certainly, I myself am with you.
Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us.
He is still God with us.
Always, in all days, all the time, in the whole of every day
He is with us through the end of every age.
The end of our mission is when He determines human history will end.
The promise is for us.
The Commission is for us.
How inadequate do you feel?
We are never alone.
This is our hope.
Acts 18:9-11 – Jesus told Paul he was with him.
Paul settled there for a year and a half.
Settle down in the ministry and be faithful.
He is with you.
3 implications
First, commit yourself and your church to this mission.
Pray for global missions and our own missionaries.
Pray for God to raise up missionaries from our own church.
Support generously our missionaries.
Second, don’t let yourself or your church be distracted from the mission that Jesus assigned the church.
Do not give a higher priority to social issues or culture.
Third, Don’t forget or let your church forget that this mission is the main reason that Christ has left us here.
Go and report what great things the Lord has done for you.
We want to be with Jesus, but we are still here.
Shepherds Conference 2018 Session 7 Notes
Ligon Duncan
The Power of the Church – The Ministry of the Holy Spirit
Galatians 4:19; 5:1; 5:13-ff
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the answer to antinomianism and legalism.
The Spirit sets you free from bondage to sin and the yoke of the Mosaic ceremonial code.
he sets you free to be what God created you to be.
We want Christ formed in the members of the church (4:19)
How does that happen?
By what power are believers remade in the image of God?
The ministry of the Holy Spirit
How often is the power of the HS emphasized?
Ezekiel 36:26-27
New heart, new Spirit, causing you to walk in my statutes.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Law of God written on our hearts
The prophets see this as uniquely the work of the Spirit.
Their ministries are ministries of the Spirit.
Micah 3:8
I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord…
Zechariah
Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord of Hosts.
Joel 2:28-ff
I will pour out my Spirit…
The later prophets see their ministries in terms of the operative power of the HS.
They look forward to a time to come when the Spirit works in a unique way in the people of God.
Luke 1
The angel comes to tell about John the Baptist.
The angel says, “He is going to be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Zechariah asks the same question as Abraham asked in Genesis 15.
How can I know this is true?
How will you know? I am Gabriel.
Last time we saw Gabriel was Daniel 9.
Gabriel came to tell Daniel what was to come.
Gabriel tells Zechariah that his son will be the forerunner.
Then Gabriel goes to Mary.
How can a virgin have a child?
Luke 1:35-ff
The HS will come upon you…
Luke 4:1
Jesus was full of the Spirit.
He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.
Adam fell in one temptation in a garden of perfection, Jesus in a howling wilderness three times refutes the evil one.
Three times, “It is written…”
Luke 4:14
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit.
Acts 1:8
You will receive power when the HS has come upon you…
Acts 10:38
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the HS and power…
Romans 1:4
Christ Jesus was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection…
Romans 15:13
By the power of the Spirit, you may abound in hope…
Romans 15:18-19
By the power of the Spirit, I have fulfilled the ministry…
1 Corinthians 2:4
My ministry was in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power
Ephesians 3:16
1 Thessalonians 1:5
Not only in word… power and the HS with full conviction
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is indeed depicted as the power of the church.
All through the canon, this is true.
Why and in what way?
Two things to see:
The pouring out of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant is depicted as a fulfillment of a promise that is older than Jeremiah 31.
Acts 2
If Jesus had not rebuked Peter when Peter tried to get in his way to go to the cross, he could never have preached the sermon of Acts 2.
Peter cites Joel 2.
Acts 2:22-ff
God planned this.
Jesus was not a victim of your designs.
Jesus decides when he is going to die.
And you nailed him to the cross by the hands of sinful men.
Sovereignty and responsibility are together with no questions.
Peter shows that Jesus is the Messiah.
Peter shows what Jesus was doing in the world.
Then, verse 36, Jesus is Lord and Christ.
The people are convicted.
They killed the Messiah.
What do we do?
Repent!
He died in order that your sins would be forgiven.
The one you killed is your only hope, and his killing is the basis of your hope as you put your trust in him.
Repent, be baptized, you will receive the Spirit.
For the promise is for you
What promise?
Context is crucial.
Has Luke mentioned the promise before?
Luke 24
Jesus explains things to the disciples.
Luke 24:45-ff
It is written that the Christ should suffer…
Jesus had already said all of acts 2 in Luke 24:47.
Now I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.
What is that promise?
Acts 1:4
Wait for what the Father had promised.
You heard of this from me.
John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.
Galatians 3:13-15
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law…
In Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the gentiles so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
The ministry of the Spirit is the fulfillment of the promise of God to Abraham.
It is not for super-believers.
It is for all who repent and believe.
The ministry of the Spirit is the proof and the substance that the Abrahamic promises are yours in Christ Jesus.
That is the promise of the Father.
The pouring out of the Spirit is the promise of God to Abraham so that the inheritance of Abraham comes to all who believe, Jew and gentile.
What empowers our ministry is a promise 4,000 years old, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
What does it do?
The role of the Holy Spirit in the New Covenant ministry is to seal and confirm the promises to the believer and to secure them in the sanctification that those promises entail.
Ephesians 1:13
You were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise.
This is a pledge of our inheritance.
The HS assures us of our inheritance in Christ, the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises.
I will be your God and you will be my people.
Ephesians 1:18
… His inheritance in the saints…
In the covenant, you get an inheritance.
But did you know that in the covenant, God gets an inheritance?
What does God get as an inheritance?
You.
The thing that God wants is his blood bought people.
He will be our God, we will be his people.
He will be our inheritance. WE will be his inheritance.
The Spirit seals, marks, confirms, assures us of that.
The Spirit shows us that we are co-heirs with Christ.
We need this for the church.
If we do not know this, we are crippled.
The Holy Spirit empowers our sanctification so that our enjoyment of the Abrahamic blessings is realized.
Ephesians 3:14-19
Comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth
Be filled up to the fullness of God
Four clauses in the passage.
There is a compounding prayer, 4 parts leading in the same direction 16-ff
Be strengthened with power.
Christ would dwell in your hearts through faith.
Know the love of Christ that surpassed knowledge
Be filled up to the fullness of God.
The power of the HS in your life.
You need strength.
You need that strength, because the Christian life is lived at the level of the heart and desires.
We need strength put inside us that comes from outside of us.
That strength comes from the promised HS.
The HS strengthens us so that Christ will take over our desires.
He helps us love what Jesus loves and hate what Jesus hates.
We need this so we are not controlled by the desires of the world, flesh, and devil.
You need the HS so you will know that love that surpasses knowledge.
You should know a love that you cannot actually understand.
Like peace that passes understanding
This fills you up to the fullness of God.
You become what God created and redeemed you to be.
The serpent told Eve that she would become like God.
What should Eve and Adam have said?
What do you mean will become like him?
Look at 1:27
We already are like him.
We are made in his image.
Nothing in the world is more like God than we are; we are his image.
But they took the bait.
And they became less like God.
The image was not erased but it was effaced.
It was not lost, but it was marred.
In salvation we are not only forgiven, but God, by the Spirit, goes about the work of restoring us so that we are finally, again, like our Heavenly Father.
Galatians 5
All Paul is doing in 13-26 is working out what we just saw in the prayer or Ephesians 3:14-19.
What does it look like when this works out?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
Crucifying the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the power of the church.
Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
Do you want Christ to be formed in the church?
Preach the Spirit’s word and watch him do the work.
Shepherds Conference 2018 Session 6 Notes
Session 6
Art Azurdia
“The Influence of The Church”
John 17:17-18
In Luke and Acts, the direction of movement changes.
In Luke, the direction of movement is toward Jerusalem.
In Acts, the movement is out from Jerusalem.
The movement will reach to the ends of the earth.
John 17-15 – Jesus prays for himself.
6-19 – Jesus prays for his disciples minus Judas
20-26 – Jesus prays for the church to come.
Jesus prays for his disciples:
Unity – that they may be one
Protection – protect them from the evil one.
An authentic Christianity assumes a meaningful worldliness.
Verse 18
As you sent me, I am sending them.
Jesus said that the Father sanctified him and sent him into the world.
Sanctification is for mission.
Jesus is doing with his disciples what his Father did with him.
Jesus is sending them with authority.
If we intend our people to take these commands seriously, we must see that they must be in the world.
There are a pair of vulnerabilities to watch out for:
Cultural gluttony
Cultural anorexia
Do not gorge on the world.
This is often cloaked in the guise of wanting to win the world.
We become just like the world.
The world’s values, objectives, and attitudes become ours.
Those who seek to become like the world end up like the world, but they are not liked by the world because the world recognizes their hypocrisy.
We are called to be the salt of the earth, not its sugar.
Cultural anorexia is a radical withdrawal from the world.
This is isolating and then insulating.
The church becomes a ghetto.
It is pure, but irrelevant.
When is the last time you shared a meal with an unbeliever in your home?
Parents should be preparing their children to enter the world, not hide from the world.
The people of the world are not the enemy but the victims of the enemy.
We need meaningful engagement with the world for the sake of the gospel.
A meaningful worldliness presupposes a consistent sanctification.
Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.
Sanctify is a holiness word.
Sanctified is to be set apart for God, set apart for a sacred duty.
How is this sanctification accomplished?
Sanctification comes with the word of God.
Jesus does not say God’s word is true (using an adjective), but truth (a noun).
He said the Bible was true, we could ask, “What is the standard of measure by which you test the truthfulness of the Scripture?
But if the Bible is truth, we must understand that all other claims of truth are measured against the Scriptures, not the other way round.
Earlier, Jesus said he is the truth (14:6).
The Bible is Christocentric.
WE must recognize that.
The Bible is not a book of virtues.
Don’t preach it that way.
It is not a textbook of systematic theology.
Don’t preach it that way.
It is a book that tells one overarching story centered on one person.
We as a church tend toward a profound biblical illiteracy.
And we wonder why we are not sanctified.
And we wonder why we cannot engage the world.
There is also an implicit means of sanctification.
The Bible is the explicit one in verse 17.
Jesus is talking to the Father.
While sanctification is brought about by the instrumentality of the word, it is still a work that only the Father can produce.
Pastors, if praying is not in your job description, you should see to it that it gets in there, because this is your work.
Samuel told the people,
Far be it from me to sin by not praying for you.
Dozens of times in Psalm 119, David asks God to do in him what only God can do.
The sanctifying work of the Father is accomplished by the work of the Son.
A consistent sanctification requires the self-consecration of the Son.
On the basis of Jesus’ act of self-consecration, he will purchase the grace that he asks the Father to give his followers.
For them I sanctify myself.
Jesus is talking about the disciples.
This is called Jesus’ high priestly prayer.
The high priest would pray for the people and make atonement for the people.
Those for whom he prayed are those for whom he made atonement.
Jesus said he was not praying for the world.
He was praying for his own.
He also made atonement for his own.
For them I sanctify myself.
Sanctification for mission is the achievement of the crucifixion.
Shepherd’s Conference 2018 Session 5 Notes
Session 5
Phil Johnson
“The Mark of a Healthy Church”
Revelation 2:1-7
What are the marks of a true church?
That question did not make sense to many before the Reformation.
Medieval Christianity had become a religion full of precepts such as do not taste, do not handle, do not touch.
They had lost the simplicity of the gospel.
The gospel was buried under a landfill of ecclesiastical traditions.
By a purely biblical standard, the whole priestly system was at odds with the teaching of Christ.
Augsburg Confession
2 things:
The gospel is rightly taught and the sacrament’s are administered.
Scottish confession added church discipline to the Augsburg two.
Belgic Confession lists the same 3 marks.
Anglican 39 articles has the 2 of Augsburg.
Calvin agreed on preaching and sacraments in the Institutes .
He also later added discipline and perhaps the formal ordination of church officers.
Reformers see 3 marks almost uniformly: gospel, sacraments, and discipline.
And since discipline can be tied to the Lord’s Supper, those who saw only 2 marks are not saying anything different.
What is the one infallible mark of a true and healthy church?
Love for Christ.
If you have a church that is distinguished by genuine love for the true Christ, you have a great church, regardless of the size.
You can have all the other standard marks of a true church, but if you lack love for Christ, you are in trouble.
Love for Christ is the starting point for all true religion.
Love of God is mandated by the greatest commandments.
Love for God is part of salvation.
Love for Christ separates true believers from unbelievers.
Love for Christ is the very essence of saving faith.
That takes away any lordship controversy.
Revelation 2 and 3 contain 7 short letters from Christ to churches in Asia minor.
Ephesus is one.
This church is very well known in the New Testament.
Paul was a missionary there.
Timothy, Apollos, and John all served there.
Spent a time discussing Paul’s ministry in Ephesus.
He covered missionary journeys of Paul in Acts.
Paul spent 2 years’ time in Ephesus in Acts 19.
By the time that Paul moves on from Ephesus, the church is established and has elders.
Paul sent Timothy to pastor in Ephesus (cf. 1 Timothy 1).
In Acts 20, Paul bids farewell to the Ephesian elders, believing that he would never return there.
Acts 20:29, fierce wolves are going to come in.
Men from among even the elders will speak twisted things.
Paul constantly told Timothy to watch out, because difficult times were coming.
Timothy may have been martyred in Ephesus around AD 80.
After Timothy, John the apostle may have pastored in Ephesus.
Ephesus has a tomb claiming to be the tomb of the virgin Mary.
Polycarp was in Ephesus.
Irenaeus recorded Polycarp stories.
Ephesians church was founded around AD 54.
Within 40 years, they receive a stinging rebuke from Jesus.
Even though they had been served by Paul, Apollos, Timothy, and John.
Revelation 2:1-7
Letter to the messenger, the preaching pastor of the church.
The whole church is to hear this message.
It is uniquely suited to the needs of the church to which it is addressed.
And there is clearly truth for us too, as God kept it in the canon.
There was much for which to commend the Ephesian church.
They had good doctrine.
They did not grow weary in doing good.
They hated the practices of a wicked and licentious cult.
They knew what to do when false teachers of false doctrines show up.
The Ephesians had zero tolerance for false teaching.
They were the kind of church that discernment-minded people want to go.
Ephesus was a true church inn accord with the 3 marks.
They preached the word.
They celebrated the sacraments.
They practiced discipline.
In verse 5, Jesus threatens to remove the church lampstand.
The failure of the church in verse 4 is terribly sad.
They have no real heart for Christ.
They looked like the Pharisees in some way.
They looked clean on the outside.
Their hearts were rotten.
Removing the lampstand is to excommunicate the local congregation.
This is not unheard of.
We have seen many churches, less than 75 years old, that have left behind the word of God and the gospel.
Apostacy is not hard to find.
Love for Christ is what the Ephesians lacked.
John 8:42, if God is your Father, you love the Lord.
Matthew 10:37
When Peter denied Christ, Jesus asked about Peter’s love.
True believers cannot lose their love for Christ completely.
But the warmth of our love can diminish.
In Ephesus, it may be that a passion for orthodoxy got in the way.
You can end up with a dead orthodoxy.
How do you solve the problem?
Remember, repent, and return.
Remember your early love and zeal for Christ.
Remember your gratitude for salvation.
Remember your love of serving the Savior.
Fill your heart with the truths of the gospel.
Repent
It is a sin not to love the Lord Jesus.
This is a sin we need to ponder and repent of.
We may need to repent here daily.
Return
Serve God.
Obey what you know is right.
This is no call not to love doctrine and go deep.
But a love for Christ should not be eclipsed by your study.
Foster and fortify your love for Christ.
The more you love Jesus, the more other doctrines and truths will fall into place.
Churches that love Christ preach Christ, not Hollywood.
They worship Christ, not raw emotionalism.
Pastors, if you think this is hard for you, realize how much harder it is for the flock who are living and working in a difficult world.
Preach Christ.
Preach the gospel.
Keep Jesus at the center.
Get rid of gimmickry and topical nonsense.
Preach Jesus and put him first in all things.
Shepherds Conference 2018 Session 2 Notes
H. B. Charles
The Life of the Church
John 13
The church should be a community of foot-washers.
Passover was the setting and background for the washing of the disciples’ feet.
Jesus sets an example for his disciples to follow.
Servanthood is essential to Christianity.
Those who would follow Christ must follow his example of servanthood.
Point 1: The motivation for service is love.
Verse 1
Jesus’ hour had come.
Even at death, Jesus has everything under control.
He loved his disciples to the end.
He is driven by love for his own.
God has common grace on all, but special love for his own.
He loved them to the end.
This is not timing of love but extent of his love.
1 Peter 1:22-25
Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.
We are called to love one another.
But this is not natural to us.
As sinners, we love self instead of God.
But, since we are born again, we are to love one another.
Love is the birthmark of Christian discipleship, and it moves us to serve one another.
Point 2: The model of service is Jesus.
Verses 2-11
Luke 22:24, there is a dispute among the disciples.
The disciples are arguing about who will be in charge.
They will not give up leverage by lowering themselves to wash feet.
Conflict in the church is rooted here: when we have an attitude of lording over others.
When our authority is more important than serving like Christ, division arises, Christ is dishonored, and the gospel is muted.
These events are happening after the devil had already given Judas the heart to betray Jesus.
Judas is unregenerate.
The devil had free reign in his heart.
Jesus already knew.
Judas was in the room when Jesus began to wash feet.
Would you have washed Judas’ feet?
We are called to be servants.
Pastors are to be servant-leaders.
We do not have the right to determine who deserves our service if we follow Jesus’ example.
Jesus is fully aware of who he is and what he is doing.
It is with that perfect knowledge that Jesus moves to serve.
The worth of your service is not determined by the prominence of your role.
The first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Philippians’ 2:6-7
Peter speaks up.
Do you wash my feet?
Peter is distressed.
Jesus tells Peter that he will understand later.
How true is that of life and ministry?
We have to trust and obey the Lord, even when he is up to something we do not understand.
Peter is not satisfied with Jesus’ answer to him.
You shall never wash my feet.
This is both pride and humility.
He is too humble to let Jesus wash his feet.
But he is not so humble that he will not tell Jesus what he is not allowed to do.
If I do not wash you, you have no part with me.
We are now not just talking about feet.
1 John 1:7 has washing, cleansing language for salvation.
Salvation is not about what we do for the Lord, it is about what he does for us.
Ephesians 2:8-9, when we are saved, we have nothing we can boast about.
Peter questioned Jesus’ service, he rejected Jesus’ service, then he tried to correct Jesus’ service.
Jesus told Peter that the one who has bathed need only wash his feet.
All of the 12 are clean, except for one.
And Jesus knew who that was.
This is about saving faith.
When he cleanses you, you are cleansed forever.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Christ makes us clean through is cross and resurrection.
Point 3: The mandate of service is inescapable.
Verses 12-ff
Jesus is both teacher and Lord.
If I washed your feet, you should wash one another’s feet.
This is not the institution of a new ordinance.
This is a metaphor for Christian service.
Be willing to do whatever it takes to serve one another.
Do not battle to get the best spots.
This is totally distinct from how the world thinks.
The world thinks that greatness is to have others serve you.
Jesus shows that we descend to greatness.
Is there anything I can do for you?
That is a dangerous question.
This should mark the lives of those who are marked by being washed by Jesus.
Jesus calls on us to let his life be our example of service.
If Jesus can wash feet…
We can serve even when we do not feel like it.
we can serve even when it costs us.
we can serve even when it is not appreciated.
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Knowing you should serve is not where the blessing comes from.
Serving is where the blessing begins.
We are not home yet.
We are called to serve, suffer, and sacrifice.
In the Lord, your labor is not in vain.
Shepherds Conference 2018 – Session 1 Notes
Session 1
John MacArthur
“The Purity of the Church: Sanctification”
Galatians 4:19-ff
Paul was passionate about the holiness of the people.
Galatians is likely Paul’s first letter.
Galatians is a defense of salvation by faith alone.
Some Jewish teachers had come from Jerusalem, claiming to be Christians, and demanding that Paul and the Galatians affirm that no one could be saved apart from circumcision and adherence to Jewish ceremonies.
If you add anything to faith, you have a different gospel.
Paul pronounces damnation on anyone who preaches a different gospel.
Salvation is not by faith plus works.
Paul affirms that the Galatians are true believers.
They are children of promise.
Who has bewitched you?
How can you be so foolish?
Their sanctification was being interrupted because they were being charmed in a deceitful way to lead them toward evil.
The pastor is to be the agent of the people’s sanctification.
Election is entirely a work of God.
Justification is entirely a work of God.
Glorification is entirely a work of God.
Sanctification is a process, and we as shepherds are engaged as instruments of God for the accomplishment of that process.
Paul was distressed, fearing that someone or something had led the Galatians away from the simplicity of the word of God and the gospel of Christ.
Paul wanted to build the church into Christ’s likeness.
We see this in all his letters.
Cited examples from 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians.
Cited 1 Peter 5:1-4.
Cited the example of Jesus.
The doctrine of sanctification defines our ministry.
We are for the sanctification of God’s people.
This is a progressive, life-long work.
You cannot be content that they are there.
You cannot be content that they like your preaching.
You must long for them to be manifestly sanctified.
The means and motivation matter.
Means: prayer, word of God, fellowship, worship, etc.
What do we do?
Do we need to be more demanding?
We need to show them Christ so that they will love him more.
This whole subject of sanctification is absent from the contemporary church.
Maturity is in rare supply.
Preachers used to give calls to holiness.
Sanctification used to have a more central place in the church.
Popular preachers do not seem to call people to sanctification.
We may like the doctrine of election.
We may like faith alone.
We may like glorification, though we do not talk about it much. But how little is said about sanctification?
We legitimize the longings of the selfish human heart.
We use that to attract people to the church.
This new version of Christianity appeals to people’s consuming self-interest.
WE avoid what condemns or convicts.
Even in reformed churches, there seems to be indifference to sanctification.
How did we get to this point?
For centuries, churches were theological and transcendent.
Churches used to be worried about virtue and holiness.
Churches opposed worldliness.
They thought deeply about the glory of God.
Now we are psychological, we redefine worship as musical stimulation, and people think about their own wants rather than the glory of God.
People are more interested in personal satisfaction than sanctification.
How did we get here?
Freud?
Freud said that everyone should be free from restraint and constraint.
He called for authenticity.
He called for people to accept the legitimacy of their own desires.
Be who you are.
This is your true self.
Youthful, irresponsible desire is elevated to a good place.
This has dominated our culture.
See that advertising is focused on the 18-30 year-olds who have no money.
They define authenticity in our culture.
Because the church preached against such sinful authenticity, the world has rejected the church.
They say we are hypocrites.
The selfish hedonist is the hero.
The church is full of phonies.
Decades ago, the church began to fear they would lose their young people.
They decided to work to keep them by dumbing down the worship and teaching.
We have bowed to a cheap, immature, adolescent culture.
Modern people do not want thoughtful, serious, sober focus on the word of God and sanctification.
Our job is not to make unbelievers happy with the church, our job is to make the saints more like Christ.
Antinomianism results from what has happened.
This is who I am.
This is how I’m wired.
Christ paid for my sins and lived a perfect life credited to my account.
That is true.
Now I need to just accept that perfect life and stop worrying about my growth.
That is false.
This is an old heresy.
We think this is a cure for legalism.
The antinomian thinks he is free from the law, and he celebrates that.
The legalist defines his relationship to God by keeping the law.
The Antinomian defines his relationship with God by not keeping the law.
None of us should define our relationship to God by the law.
Do not attach yourself to the law as the defining reality of your relationship to God.
Both legalism and antinomianism fail here.
Modern antinomians say if you obey the word of God out of a sense of duty or respect, that is sin, a trap.
Titus 2:11-ff
The same grace that saved us is the grace that instructs us to holiness.
Romans 5:1
Sin reigned, but now grace reigns.
The grace of God instructs us to deny ungodliness.
Grace corrects. Grace disciplines.
Sanctification is the process of fighting for full joy and not selling out for a cheap substitute along the pathway.
Now to Galatians.
All the preceding was introduction.
Paul is like a mother who birthed these people into new life.
He wonders why he is suffering through that process again.
Verse 20
I am perplexed about you.
I wish I could change my tone.
Pastors, we want to bring people to conformity to Christ.
It is not about redeeming the culture.
It is about the sanctification of the saints whose transformed lives will impact the culture.
Listening to expository preaching is a skill.
It is an acquired taste.
Shepherds’ Conference 2017 Session 5 Notes
Shepherds’ Conference 2017
Session 5
Mark Jones
Isaiah 50
Third servant song
Isaiah speaks of his unclean lips.
But he speaks so eloquently, so majestically, about the coming Son of God.
He has a number of things to tell us about the servant.
V4
He is taught.
His teaching is astonishing.
He caused people to marvel.
Where did this man get his teaching, the Jews often asked.
How is it that this man has learning?
The answer is here in the text.
My Father has given me the tongue of those who are taught.
He got his teaching from his Father in heaven.
Christ knew the Scriptures very well.
He may well have had the entire Old Testament memorized.
What is the question most asked by Jesus in his ministry?
Have you not read?
He said that to religious leaders.
He learned for 30 years to be able to teach for 3 years.
We reverse that.
V4, sustaining with a word those who are weary.
The prophet to come will have God’s words in his mouth as Moses promised in Deuteronomy.
He shall speak to them all that I command him.
Jesus tamed the tongue. Nobody else could do that.
He never misspoke.
He knew what to say and what not to say.
Look at Jesus’ words on the cross.
They are a masterpiece of pastoral theology.
Psalm 31:5, into your hands I commit my Spirit.
God’s words flow forth.
He was taught by his Father in order to speak.
V5-6, the servant is obedient.
Everything Christ did for us and for our salvation was done willingly.
He laid down his life on his own. He gave them his beard to pull.
He gave them his face to strike.
If it was not willing, it was not obedience.
Exo 21 the slave had his ear opened, pierced.
Where did obedience lead Jesus?
It led him to 40 days in the wilderness.
It led him to rejection by his own family.
The only person ever to be in his right mind was declared to be out of his mind.
It led him to ridicule.
They accused the Son of God, filled with the Spirit of God, to have a demon.
It led him to discouragement.
In John 6, he asked, “Are you going to leave as well??”
It led him to temptation.
The devil was there in the wilderness after the Spirit of God drove Jesus to the wilderness.
The devil tries to tempt Jesus to throw himself off a cliff.
Then Jesus preaches in a town, talks about gentiles, and the people try to throw him off a cliff.
It led him to homelessness.
It led him to the sting of betrayal by a disciple he loved.
It led him to Gethsemane.
Jesus’ petitions in the garden prove to us that he had a proper grasp of the holiness of God.
The only appropriate thing for him to do in the garden was for him to ask the Father to remove that cup.
He could not want to face the rejection of the Father.
How could he not ask, “Remove this cup from me?”
The petitions prove that Jesus possessed a true human nature with proper human sensibilities.
But all his requests are wrapped in the phrase, “Your will be done.”
** EFS comments in an aside
Christ has a true human will.
He has two wills.
His human will is brought to the brink of despair.
He agonizes and pleads.
All that is proper to true humanity.
His obedience, imputed to us, is real human obedience.
It is not a phantom, divine will out there taking care of everything.
We cannot and must not attribute to the divine will what is proper to human nature: despair, struggle, etc.**
V7-8
The Lord God helps me.
Jesus does not declare that he will obey on his own, by his own power.
There is no Pelagianism.
He depends on the Father.
Jesus knew that he would be exalted.
He prayed it in John 17.
He trusts his Father.
Heaven is the eternal vindication of the Savior.
No person there will be able to accuse him of anything or stand up against him.
Application:
Why can’t Johnny preach?
Because Johnny sleeps in.
He needs to wake up to be instructed by his Father morning by morning.
Theological books are easy to read.
Woe to that man who knows his theological books but is ignorant of the word of God.
Jesus always knew how to respond with “It is written…”
God does not give you more than you can handle; he gives you a lot more than you can handle.
Consider what he did to the Son.
If he does not give us more than we can handle, we will think we do not need God.
Doing his will leads to heartache, blood, and tears.
But doing God’s will also leads to God and to glory.
Hebrews 5:9.
Once made perfect.
How can we say he was made perfect?
The context is Christ as a high priest.
When was he made perfect?
Upon his death on the cross and resurrection.
Why?
As our merciful high priest, if he had been taken by the Father before the cross, he could not have been a merciful high priest.
Why?
Because how could he minister to a person who feels abandoned by God?
How could he minister to a person who feels as though Psalm 88 is their reality?
How could he minister to someone who feels that God has forsaken them?
The glory of our faith is that we do not look at a God who does not understand.
He does understand.
In fact, he understands much better than we ever will.
V
I have not been rebellious.
The Lord God helped me.
He who vindicates me is near.
Jesus’ resurrection is his vindication.
He was never rebellious.
Shepherds’ Conference 2017 Session 4 Notes
Shepherds’ Conference 2017
Session 4
Ligon Duncan
John 6
Jesus: The Bread of Life
John here shows us our deepest need, and how we are blind to that need.
We need to study this and believe it for ourselves.
We need to be fed and refreshed by the word.
To feed only to feed others is an occupational hazard.
If we are not satisfied by the bread of life, we will poorly commend the bread of life.
This passage is not about the Lord’s Supper. It is about Jesus.
But the Lord’s Supper is very much about Jesus, and points to this passage.
John 6:22-59
Just fed the 5,000.
Jesus also walked on water.
A crowd pursuing Jesus while spiritually not understanding him
They are seeking, but not seeking for the right reason.
And we have Jesus’ message to them.
He stresses 3 things:
They needed to know what they really needed.
They are seeking him for the wrong reasons.
They are looking to him for the wrong things.
How practical is this?
Jesus in his reply is designed to teach them how to get what they need.
How do they appropriate what they need?
They need to understand who Jesus is, because he is the bread of heaven.
He is the sign.
He is the miracle, a far greater miracle than manna.
Jesus the bread of life is life and gives life by this death, and the life he gives is our deepest satisfaction, our eternal security, our salvation and communion.
3 things:
The bread that perishes in contrast to the bread of life (2-27)
The utter necessity of faith in the bread of life. (28-29)
The glory of Jesus as the bread of life. (30-ff)
The crowd wants another food miracle.
They hint at it in 30-31.
Jesus does not give this crowd what they are seeking.
He explains to them that they do not know what they need.
V26.
You’ve already seen signs.
They are there because they have seen a sign.
And they keep asking for a sign.
There is no lacking in miraculous manifestation in Jesus’ ministry to these folks.
Notice Jesus’ concern for their souls.
Crowds show up.
Jesus does not assume that the presence of crowds means that something good is happening.
How important is that for us?
We are all vulnerable to the calculation that when more come, good things are happening.
Narcissistic people in the ministry feed on this kind of stuff.
Jesus cares about the people’s souls.
He confronts them with their real need and their blindness to that need.
All sorts of people are following Christian ministries because they see Christ and the gospel as a ticket to what they really want, and it is not the bread of life.
This is not just out there in the charismatic world.
That can happen in our own people.
Why are they at church?
They want fellowship?
They want respectability?
V28
The question reminds us of other places where people ask what to do to do the works of God.
What must I do to be saved? Acts 2
Jesus’ answer is remarkable.
He focuses them on faith.
This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.
Belief in him is of divine origin.
Philippians 2:13 stresses that God is at work in us for sanctification.
God must therefore be at work in our justification.
Faith is coming and eating, 2 things.
He who comes to me will not hunger.
He who believes in me will not thirst.
Coming to Jesus is believing in Jesus.
V53
Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life.
That is designed to cause maximal offense.
Eating a sacrifice was not unheard of.
No Jew drank sacrificial blood.
Blood was forbidden.
So, the phrase, “drink my blood,” is designed to offend.
His point is that these are the constituent parts of a blood sacrifice, the flesh and blood.
Unless you put your full trust in me, you die.
We use eating imagery all the time.
We devour a good book.
We drink in a good lesson.
Jesus is saying that we need him more than we need food.
If you do not eat and drink Jesus, if you do not trust in his death, you will die like a starving and thirsting man dies without food and water.
Next, Jesus declares to them who he is.
He displays himself, in his glory, as the bread of life.
V35.
I am the bread of life.
This is very similar to how he described himself to the woman at the well in chapter 4.
The same thing happens in this passage.
They miss the deep level he is going to.
They want a miracle with bread.
He is the bread of life.
They want a miracle.
He is a miracle.
Manna pointed to Jesus.
He already fed 5,000 and walked on water yesterday.
Don’t ask me to show you something.
You have already seen signs and not believed.
You need me.
Why do you need me?
V35
He who comes will not hunger.
Same language as with the woman at the well and water.
This is the language of satisfaction.
The root of every sin is our seeking satisfaction in something other than God.
That is original sin.
Satan convinced Eve that there was something to satisfy outside of God.
The people wanted bread to satisfy apart from Jesus.
Jesus tells them that he is what they are made for.
He is the bread they need.
V37
All the father gives me will come to me. The one who comes, I will certainly not cast out.
V39, I will lose none of what he gives me.
You come to me, you will not be lost. I will not lose you.
Great illustration of Psalm 119,
V1 says the one who follows the word is blessed.
175 verses declare how great it is to follow God.
V176 says I have gone astray and asks the Lord to come get me.
Back to John
V40, v50 a lot of live language.
V50, eat and not die.
Gen 2 and 3, eat and die.
V56, he who eats and drinks abides in me and I in him.
Jesus is the one true sacrifice.
His flesh and blood are given for the life of the world.
He came that we may have life.
How will he give us life?
He will lay down his life for his sheep.
That abiding language is the language of communion, not the ceremony, but real communion.
He tells them he is what they need.
They do not get it.
John 4 the woman starts off missing the point.
But she gets it.
She eats and drinks of his flesh and blood, she receives him, the water of life.
Pastor Travis Peterson 