{"id":18680,"date":"2015-03-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/it-is-finished-part-1\/"},"modified":"2015-03-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T06:00:00","slug":"it-is-finished-part-1","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/it-is-finished-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"It Is Finished! – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[88],"series_event":[434],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18680","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-john","series_event-john","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"It Is Finished! - Part 1","sermon_date":"20150308","sermon_month":"3","sermon_year":"2015","sermon_notes":2506,"sermon_slides":2508,"sermon_mp3":2519,"sermon_id":"38151058146","series_or_event":434,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":88,"chapter_and_verse":"19:25-28a","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\nIt Is Finished!\n3-1-15 John 19:25-30 Lesson 115\n\nGood morning everybody; I can tell who the elect are based on the people that sacrificed an hour of sleep to show up. So you guys are the sheep, the rest of them are the goats\u2026 right? Let\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open to John\u2019s Gospel, chapter 19; we\u2019re going to try, as God allows it to look at 25-30 today. We may not make it through verse 30 but at any rate the title of this message is It Is Finished! Thanks to Will Miller for subbing in last week; Will was one of my students at the College of Biblical Studies, so if you like what he presented you can give me credit; if you didn\u2019t like what he presented you can blame him. Thank you Will, for doing that. I had a chance to present at the Steeling the Mind Conference in Peoria, Illinois, and it was really cold out there, very cold. As a matter of fact, when I got there I said thanks for allowing me to come out and participate in your global warming out here.\n\nBut what happened was, can I come speak at the conference, yeah, and I got a phone call a couple of weeks before, well, can you speak twice? Yeah, okay, I can do that. Well, can you stick around Sunday and speak at a Bible church? Yeah, I can do that. Can you speak twice? Yeah, I can do that. And then it turned into well, we have an end times study group, can you stick around Monday and speak twice at that? Yeah, I can do that. I\u2019m really tired, so let\u2019s just close in prayer\u2026.\n\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles and go to John 19:25. As I mentioned before the title of this message is It Is Finished! Sort of zeroing in on, if you will, the events surrounding the death of Jesus Christ. We\u2019ve looked at His arrest, and we\u2019ve looked at His legal trials and now we\u2019re focused, really, on the events leading up to His death. We\u2019re focusing, really, on the last couple of Sundays, verses 17-30, all of the events leading to the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nHere\u2019s the outline that we used; you may not remember it but we have the walk to the cross, verse 17; the wretched ordeal at the cross, verse 18; the wrongdoers at the cross, verse 18; the writing above the cross, verses 19-22; the wardrobe below the cross, verses 23-24, and that is as far as we made it last time. This morning we\u2019re going to take a look at the women at the cross, verse 25, and then following that we\u2019ll see the final words of Jesus from the cross.\n\nNotice, if you will, John 19 and notice verse 25. \u201cTherefore the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were His mother, and His mother\u2019s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. So based on what we know about how Roman executions took place it was very common for family and friends to sort of stand by the side of the victim at this most difficult time in the victim\u2019s existence as his breath was literally ebbing away.\n\nAnd what we discover here are four women standing at the foot of the cross. We\u2019re told who they are: the first one is Jesus\u2019 mother; we know that is Mary. And then we have Jesus\u2019 mother\u2019s sister, that would be Salome. Now Salome is somewhat important because she is John\u2019s mother, the author of this book. John was Jesus Christ\u2019s cousin on His mother\u2019s side, and that will explain the instructions that Jesus is going to give to John in verses 26-27. Also present was Mary, the wife of Clopas, and also present was Mary Magdalene.\n\nOne of the things that\u2019s very interesting about John is he doesn\u2019t mention his own mother by name; John, when he talks about his brother never mentions his name either, and John, in this book never even mentions his own name. So one of the things that\u2019s very interesting about John is his constant ambition to take the spotlight off himself. And I believe John does this because he doesn\u2019t want any people distracted from what he is talking about; the subject of his book is Jesus Christ.\n\nLet me ask you a question; in your life is the spotlight more on yourself or is it on the Lord? It\u2019s very easy to sort of become overly impressed with ourselves, and try to attract attention to ourselves. But the fact of the matter is that is not our calling; our calling is to put the spotlight on Jesus Christ. We, to a very large extent, are even called to be nameless, and we find that happening here in the writing of John, in this most critical gospel. He doesn\u2019t mention his own name, he simply refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved, he doesn\u2019t even want to draw a lot of attention to his family.\n\nWe notice also that we have these four women at the foot of the cross and this, very briefly, raises a very important topic about women in the ministry. One of the dangers that we can face as a conservative Bible church which takes a view on the fact that some roles in ministry are limited to men. There is a gender limitation on some roles in ministry; elder, for example. We believe the role of deacon, also the role of pastor-teacher, and because this standard is being so violated today on the conservative side we have a tendency to want to raise our voices and enforce this standard. I don\u2019t have a problem with enforcing the standard but sometimes we raise our voices so aggressively that we end up sending an inaccurate message. The message is women have no place in the ministry of Christ; women have no place in the work of the church. And may I just say to you that that is equally as erroneous as saying there is no gender limitations at all in offices in the church.\n\nWhat you discover in the Scripture if you really look at it with an open mind and you look at it objectively is you find women are all over the place in the Bible. In fact, I would commend to you Dr. Constable\u2019s online notes on 1 Timothy; you can find those at Soniclight.com and he has an appendix there at the back of his 1 Timothy notes; it\u2019s Appendix 2 notes and he documents every time in the Bible God used a woman. And as you go through that list it\u2019s overwhelming that God has always used women and will always use women. He talks about how women served in the tabernacle, Exodus 38:8; Miriam, a prophetess, Exodus 15:20-21; Deborah, a judge, Judges 4 and 5, and on and on he goes through the Old Testament documenting these examples. And then he goes on and he begins to talk about women in the ministry and the teachings of Jesus Christ. One of the things that is somewhat startling to discover is that women actually subsidized or financed Christ\u2019s earthly ministry. And he documents several examples of women in the ministry of Christ and then he talks about examples of women in the ministry of the local church, how the Holy Spirit fell upon both men and women on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2; women were praying with the men in Acts 1, Acts 12, and on and on we could go. And then he talks about women in the ministry of Paul and Peter; Paul the apostle to the Gentiles, Peter the apostle to the Jews, and he goes on like this, giving example after example. You see I\u2019m flipping pages here.\n\nAnd take a look at that list when you get a chance and it becomes overwhelming that God wants to use women. So in no way, shape or form is a gender limitation on some offices within the church meant to somehow send a message that God does not want to use women. In fact, when you really get into this subject of gender limitations on some offices within the church what you discover is you are only talking about one to two percent of total ministry out there. What are we talking about, 98% of ministry is available to women. And so it becomes somewhat overwhelming.\n\nDr. Venessa Ellen at the college I teach at, the College of Biblical Studies, she uses a term, she calls it the Eve Syndrome, how Adam and Eve were given free rein to do whatever they wanted in Eden but they were given one limitation. So where did they focus? On that one limitation; they weren\u2019t focused on all of the things they could do, they were focused on the one thing that they were not supposed to do. And I very much appreciate that example of an Eve Syndrome, I asked her if I could use that term in my classes and so forth, so I kind of picked it up as well. But it is interesting that you have all of these realms of ministry for women and yet what does the evangelical church want to fight about and argue about? We want to fight and argue about the one to two percent where there is a gender limitation.\n\nAnd so we discover here, as is very common in the ministry of Jesus Christ, these four women at the foot of the cross. How different Jesus was in this regard compared to the culture of the day. In fact, here\u2019s a quotation, this is what certain Jews prayed during this time period. It\u2019s a pretty well-known Jewish tradition and this is what it says, it\u2019s a prayer: \u201cThank God I am not a dog, a Gentile or a woman.\u201d Women in the first century, and beyond the first century and before the first century were always subjugated and treated like second class citizens.\n\nAnd how different the ministry of Jesus Christ was, and we see it right here with these four women gathered at the foot of the cross. How different the ministry of Jesus Christ was when He went and ministered to the Samaritan woman, that we have studied in John 4. And in fact, when Jesus went and ministered to that Samaritan woman the disciples themselves couldn\u2019t believe what was happening because John 4 is very clear, they were concerned that he was talking to a woman. How different the ministry of Jesus Christ is in Luke 10, around verses 38-42 where you have the two sisters sitting at His feet, and how such a thing was not even tolerated or allowed in first century Judaism.\n\n[Luke 10:38-42, \u201cNow as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. [39] She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord\u2019s feet, listening to His word. [40] But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, \u2018Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.\u2019 [41] But the Lord answered and said to her, \u201cMartha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; [42] but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.\u2019\u201d]\n\nJesus gets such a bad rap from people. People want to blame the plight of women on Jesus Christ and Christianity and I can\u2019t think of a greater error than that. There isn\u2019t a historical figure that has done more to elevate the status of women than Jesus Christ. In fact, this is a concept that goes all the way back to Eden where we learn that both Adam and Eve together were co-rulers over creation. Why would I say that? Because God said to \u201cthem,\u201d plural, that would be Adam and Eve, \u201csubdue and rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. [Genesis 1:28, \u201cGod blessed them; and God said to them, \u2018Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.\u2019\u201d]\n\nIt was a co-rulership. Now, of course, Adam in that relationship was given the position of leader because when the whole thing went south with sin, who did God come looking for? He called out to the man, Genesis 3:9. [Genesis 3:9, \u201cThen the LORD God called to the man, and said to him, \u2018Where are you?\u2019\u201d] When Enron goes belly up you don\u2019t go after the janitor, you go after the CEO. So very clearly man had this position of authority in the first marriage, but Eve was right there alongside him as co-ruler. And even beyond that you find that both Adam and Eve, together, are image-bearers of God. Genesis 1:27 says He made them in His image, male and female. [Genesis 1:27, \u201cGod created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.\u201d]\n\nAnd although we are called by God to fulfill different roles within marriage, or different functions within the church, never is it hinted at in the Bible that women are somehow inferior to men. It\u2019s a distinction in role only, not in value. It\u2019s quite similar to the Trinity, God the Son submits to God the Father, but when God the Son submits to God the Father God the Son does not relinquish one iota of His deity. Both the Father and the Son share in full deity, although they are separate personages playing different roles. That\u2019s how it exists within a marriage; that is how it exists by way of an analogy within the church. The women at the cross!\n\nNotice, if you will, verses 26-30 where now we start to look at the words from the cross. These words represent the final sayings of Jesus Christ just prior to His death. He is going to die in verse 30 and there are things that are coming out of His mouth in the form of speech that are recorded for us in verses 26-30. In fact, what we discover here is Jesus is going to speak three times; number 1, He is going to speak to Mary and John, verses 26-27. Number 2, He is going to speak to the soldiers that no doubt were instrumental in His death, the Roman soldiers, verses 28-29. And then finally, the final thing that will come out of His mouth prior to His death, at the end of verse 30, is He will speak to the Father.\n\nNotice what Jesus says to Mary and to John; He speaks to Mary in verse 26; He speaks to John, the writer of this book, in verse 27. Notice what he says there to Mary, John 19:26, \u201cWhen Jesus then saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, \u2018Woman, behold, your son!\u201d In other words, John is going to care for you, Mary, my mother, now that I am departing. And then notice what He says to John in verse 27 as he speaks to John; it says, \u201cThen He said to the disciple, \u2018Behold, your mother!\u2019 From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.\u201d He then turns to John, or speaks to John and he basically tells him to care for Mary, that would be Jesus\u2019 mother, and given the relationship family wise that John had it\u2019s very logical that Jesus would assign this task to John.\n\nThis is the, in total, third statement Jesus made from the cross, and what you have to understand is John, and we\u2019ve seen this many times in John 20:31, you\u2019ll also find it in John 21:25, John never claims to give an exhaustive history of everything that transpired in the ministry of Jesus Christ. In fact, John says if I told you everything that Jesus did I suppose the world itself could not contain the books written thereof. [John 20:31, \u201cbut these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.\u201d John 21:25, \u201cAnd there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.\u201d]\n\nSo he doesn\u2019t tell us everything that came out of Christ\u2019s mouth verbally as He was dying on the cross, but when you look at the whole picture what you discover, as you study Matthew, Mark, Luke and John together, is that Jesus had seven final sayings. What\u2019s interesting about these sayings is every saying relates to the Scripture. Every saying that he is verbalizing is either a quotation or a paraphrase of the Scripture. You see, what people are thinking about at the end of their lives generally reflects what\u2019s most important to them, their value system. Even our legal system will allow statements made with knowledge of an imminent death; those statements are typically given even greater credibility in our legal system, statements made knowing that you\u2019re about to die. And Jesus here is saying seven things and everything that\u2019s coming out of His mouth is the Word of God. What was most important to Jesus Christ? It was the Scripture. How do I know that? Because that\u2019s what he talked about as he was departing.\n\nAnd of course, we can ask ourselves just a basic question: how important is the Word of God to us? Is the Word of God something that sits on the coffee table? Is the Word of God something that is kind of a distraction on Sunday morning? Or is this book and the things that are written in it integral to who we are? The first statement, Jesus says, is \u201cFather, forgive them, they know not what they do,\u201d Luke 23:34. He didn\u2019t say I\u2019m going to get you all when I come back the second time; He said, \u201cFather, forgive them; for they know now what they do,\u201d that\u2019s taken, basically, a paraphrase out of Isaiah 53:12. [Isaiah 53:12, \u201cTherefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.\u201d]\n\nTo the penitent thief, Luke 23:43, He says, \u201ctoday you shall be with Me in Paradise.\u201d Likely a paraphrase from Isaiah 53:10-11. [Isaiah 53:10-11, \u201cBut the LORD was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself as a guilt offering, he will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. [11] As a result of the anguish of His soul, he will see it and be satisfied; by His knowledge the Righteous One, My servant, will justify the many, and He will bear their iniquities.\u201d]\n\nThen we get to our statement here, this is actually Christ\u2019s third statement, John 19:27, likely taken from one of the commandments, the fifth commandment, Exodus 20:12, [Exodus 20:12, \u201cHonor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.\u201d] \u201cWoman, behold, your son!\u2019\u201d Behold your mother! [John 19:27, \u201cThen He said to the disciple, \u2018Behold, your mother!\u2019\u201d]\n\nAnd then there\u2019s a fourth statement Jesus gave, it\u2019s picked up in Matthew and Mark, probably taken from Psalm 22:1, He says, \u201cMy God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?\u201d\n\nThen there is a fifth statement Jesus made and we\u2019ll see that in our study in John, it\u2019s in John 19:28, [\u201cAfter this Jesus, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished, to fulfill the Scripture, said, \u201cI am thirsty.\u2019\u201d] probably taken from Psalm 69:21 where Jesus says I thirst. [Psalm 69:21, \u201c\u2026And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.\u201d]\n\nAnd then, number 6 is this majestic statement, where He says in John 19:30, \u201cIt is finished!\u201d [John 19:30, \u201cTherefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, \u2018It is finished!\u2019 And he bowed His head and gave up His spirit.\u201d] probably taken from Psalm 22:31. [Psalm 22:31, \u201cThey will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has performed it.\u201d]\n\nAnd then the final words that came out of His mouth as recorded in Luke 23:46, \u201cFather, into Your hand I commend My spirit,\u201d probably taken from Psalm 31:5. [Psalm 31:5, \u201cFor His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning\u201d]\n\nJohn doesn\u2019t give us all seven, John is going to focus on number 3, number 5 and number 6. But it is very interesting to look at all the Gospels and see the final seven sayings that Jesus gave from the cross. What\u2019s even more fascinating to me about it is the subject matter on Christ\u2019s mind, the Word of God, because at the end of the day the only thing you can really rely on in this life, other than your relationship with the Lord and the Holy Spirit within you, is the Word of God. It really is the only thing that is going to weather the storms because the prophet, Isaiah says in Isaiah 40:8, \u201cThe grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our Lord,\u201d or \u201cthe word of our God abideth\u201d or \u201cabides forever.\u201d\n\nJesus, in the Olivet Discourse said something very similar in Matthew 24:35, He says, \u201cHeaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.\u201d We\u2019re living in a society today where everybody is looking for safe investments. The fact of the matter is, there\u2019s only two, they are, number 1, the Word of God, because of the promises in the Word of God that it will last forever, and number 2, the souls of people.\n\nThe book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 11 says, \u201cGod has put eternity into the hearts of men.\u201d Everything else in life will be destroyed. [Ecclesiastes 3:11, \u201cHe has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart....\u201d] Everything else in life will be destroyed by fire, and isn\u2019t it sad that we devote so much of our lives and our times to, as that board game once read, \u201cTrivial Pursuit,\u201d pursuing things that have no real lasting or eternal value, when in reality the Scripture is telling us here are your two safe investments, the Word of God and people. The more you invest into this book, in terms of trying to understand it and apply it, you\u2019re making an investment that\u2019s different than any other investment you can make. It has eternal ramifications. And the more you invest into the life of another human being by teaching them spiritual truth, the more you are making an eternal investment.\n\nEverything else, to a very large extent, is not necessarily unimportant, it simply does not have the lasting impact that the prior two investments that I\u2019ve mentioned will have. Jesus, at the end of His life obviously believed very strongly in the Word of God because people will gravitate towards the things that are most valuable and important to them, particularly on their death bed. Jesus is making seven statements, focusing on the Word of God.\n\nAnd so in one of these statements, statement number 3, John 19:27, He makes a provision for His very own mother. Dr. Constable, in his online notes says this: \u201cEven as he hung dying an excruciatingly painful death, Jesus compassionately made provision for His mother.\u201d Is it not interesting how Jesus, even at the most difficult time in His life, even at the most painful time in His life, is focused on other people? What you be doing? What would I be doing if we were in that same circumstance? We would be, no doubt, perhaps feeling sorry for ourselves, demanding justice, focused on our own pain and discomfort, and yet where is Jesus Christ focused? He\u2019s not even focused on Himself, interestingly enough. He\u2019s focused on a provision for His own mother.\n\nWhere are you focused in your life? Is the holy trinity, has it become \u201cme, myself and I?\u201d It\u2019s so easy, particularly as fallen human beings to fall into that trap, where we think the world revolves around us, the sun rises and the sun sets with us; this is all part of the anthropocentric humanism in our culture. Humanism is this idea that man is the center of all things. We generally think that everything revolves around us and yet we really don\u2019t understand what life is, do we, until we start to live for others. Even when our own needs aren\u2019t met we can live for others, as Jesus exemplified.\n\nAnd you know what? The great mystery of the whole thing is that\u2019s where we have the most joy. I heard somebody spell out the word joy this way, with the following pneumonic device: J in Joy stands for Jesus; O in joy stands for others; Y in joy stands for yourself. And when we live a life focused on Jesus Christ, focused on other people, focused on ourselves last, isn\u2019t it interesting that we\u2019re the happiest and the most fulfilled in that time frame or that mindset. And how easy it is to get the cart before the horse and import the Y to the front of the equation; but the moment the Y is imported to the front of the equation is the moment you\u2019ve misspelled joy and you no longer have it.\n\nThe Bible teaches, if it teaches anything, it teaches this: it says it is better to give than to receive. And here is Jesus modeling that for us, selflessly, not focused on his own pain, focused rather on His very own mother.\n\nAnd I believe that the commandment that Jesus is anchoring this statement in is Exodus 20:12 which was the fifth commandment God gave to Moses in the Decalogue, and you know the verse well, it says, \u201cHonor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.\u201d Jesus, at the end of His life, was honoring His very own mother.\n\nAnd we say well, that\u2019s just simple stuff, I mean, everybody understand that. Let me tell you something, the Jews of this day were dishonoring their parents. How do I know that? Because they were not looking out for their own parents in their old age. They were involved in something called Corban, which is where they would make a vow to God and as they made this financial vow to God everybody looked at them as deeply spiritual, and yet that was the provision God had given them to help and aid and support and minister to their very own parents as they got older and became feeble and infirmed.\n\nJesus spoke to this in Mark 7:7-13, it says this: \u201cAnd He said to them, \u2018Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: \u2018This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. [7] But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.\u2019 [8] Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men. [9] He was also saying to them, \u2018You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. [10\u2019 For Moses said, \u2018Honor your Father and your Mother,\u2019; and He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death\u2019; [11] but you say, \u2018If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),\u2019 [12] you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; [13] thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.\u2019\u201d\n\nIt really is no wonder that the Pharisees wanted Christ dead, making statements like that. He is castigating their traditions. Is Jesus against traditions? Of course not, He\u2019s not against traditions unless they contradict Scriptural principles. You very conveniently set aside the fifth commandment so you can appear righteous and give money to the Lord, or give money to God. He calls them hypocrites, He anchors the problem in the traditions that they had developed and handed down. And he even says \u201cyou do many things such as that.\u201d\n\nHow dangerous tradition can be when the source of authority becomes a tradition and not the Word of God. How easy it is to appear religious and want to do religious things and in the process we are dishonoring God because we are neglecting the commandment of God. I hope you don\u2019t have this idea that in Christ\u2019s ministry it\u2019s Jesus versus Moses. Many people have this misunderstanding that Moses said one thing and Jesus said something else. That is a complete misunderstanding of the ministry of Jesus Christ. It is not Jesus versus Moses; it is Jesus versus tradition, which contradicted Moses. And that\u2019s why Jesus, in His ministry, is trying to get through layer after layer after layer of centuries of tradition and get back to the Word of God.\nAnd how at a Bible Church like this that would be our same goal.\n\nWhat value is a tradition if it does not have its roots or its anchoring in the eternal Word of God? And yet we find ourselves, many times, doing things because that\u2019s how we\u2019ve been taught, or that\u2019s the way it\u2019s been handed down to us. Or, as people like to say, we\u2019ve always done it that way. What a disastrous statement; what a foolish reason to do anything\u2014we\u2019ve always done it that way? The issue is not how have we always done it, the issue is what is the Scripture saying? What is the Scripture saying to the church? That is the issue.\n\nAnd you will find that there are a great many people that are more in love with a tradition, they\u2019re more comfortable with a method. They\u2019re more comfortable with a routine, and the moment you begin to direct them back to the Scripture is the moment you get the emotional explosion. And how we need to be humble about our traditions; hold to our traditions loosely, but cling to the eternal Word of God.\n\nHow the religious leaders were so wrapped up in this tradition that\u2019s described in Mark 7 that they were ignoring the basic commandment of God, commandment number five. And so what is the commandment of God? The commandment of God is simply this, that we are to honor our parents! And the application of it is we are to honor our parents as they age and as they get older. That is basic Christianity.\n\nIn fact, the Apostle Paul, in 1 Timothy 5:3-4 talks about widows needing financial support within the church. And notice what the Apostle Paul says, 1 Timothy 5:3-4, \u201cHonor widows who are widows indeed; [5] but if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.\u201d\n\nDon\u2019t, Paul says, talk to me about your religiosity, don\u2019t talk to me about your spiritual piety, I want to see it, Paul says. I want to see children supporting their parents when they are in need of support. I don\u2019t want the roles of the church, Paul says, filled with helpless widows because the family won\u2019t carry a basic obligation and responsibility.\n\nI remember one time I was involved in a service project, the church that I was involved with in California, I was involved with a college group, it was a service project, the service project basically involved going to homes of widows and doing things that an elderly person can\u2019t do, like mow the grass and those types of things, take out the trash, those things that are difficult for an aging person to do. And at one point we were involved in this service project and then I happened to learn that this woman\u2019s son just lived right down the street; an able bodied individual who would not lift his finger to help his own mother and suddenly the church has to bear that burden. Paul says these things ought not to be so. Put your religion, put your piety, put your spirituality into practice and do what the fifth commandment tells you to do, to honor your mother and father.\n\nHow could you be honoring your mother and father when they brought you into the world when you were in a helpless state and now you, as an adult find them in a helpless state and you won\u2019t lift a finger to help? In fact, you take the money that God has given you to help them and you piously give it to the Lord, all in the name of spirituality, all in the name of religion.\n\nYou\u2019ll find Jesus Christ, here at the end of His life not doing any such thing, in fact, rather than focusing upon Himself He is making provision for His very own mother, Mary, which, verse 27 and 26 brings up another issue, the proper understanding of Mary. We\u2019re living in an age of time, thanks largely to Roman Catholic tradition, where people are involved in Mariolatry, that is, the worship of Mary.\n\nWhat is our position, as Protestant Christians, what is our position at Sugar Land Bible Church on this woman, named Mary? Mary is a woman that is to be revered, we believe. Mary is a woman to be respected, but the problem is, becoming involved in theological systems that elevate Mary beyond what the Scripture dictates, Mariolatry, the worship of Mary, the perpetual supremacy of Mary as some believe. Obviously that is not a true biblical understanding of Mary, because Jesus, at the end of His life just put Mary in the custody of John. I believe what Jesus is doing is giving authority of John over Mary.\n\nWe do not teach the perpetual supremacy of Mary. Simply by reading the Bible we see it can\u2019t be true. Beyond that we do not teach the sinlessness of Mary. There are those who believe that somehow Mary was never touched by the sin nature. No, Jesus, in her womb, born of a virgin, was never touched by the sin nature. Mary was touched, like all of us are, by the sin nature because Romans 3:23 says, \u201cFor all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.\u201d Wouldn\u2019t \u201call\u201d there include Mary? In fact, don\u2019t take my word for it, listen to Mary herself. In Luke 1:46-47, \u201cAnd Mary said: \u2018My soul exalts the Lord, [47] and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior.\u201d Mary saw her need for a Savior and that Savior is Jesus Christ. Someone that is involved in sinless perfection doesn\u2019t need a Savior, do they?\n\nThere are those who teach the perpetual virginity of Mary. Yes, of course, Mary was a virgin at the time the Holy Spirit miraculously conceived in her womb Jesus Christ. And there is a tradition in Roman Catholicism that Mary remained a virgin her entire life. Again, are we going to abide by a tradition or are we going to read the Bible? Matthew 13:55 says this: \u201cIs this not the carpenter\u2019s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?\u201d not to be confused with Judas Iscariot. But you\u2019ll notice that Jesus had brothers; we would call them half-brothers, born from the same mother but not the same father because Jesus had no biological father because He was born of a virgin.\n\nBut after the virgin birth of Christ Mary and Joseph had a normal sexual relationship within marriage; the product of that normal sexual relationship was the various half-brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, two of them wrote New Testament books, James and Jude. So we do not endorse the perpetual virginity of Mary.\n\nWe also do not believe that it is acceptable nor appropriate to pray to God through Mary. Many people view the Virgin Mary as the great mother; they view her as co-mediator. In some cases, God forbid, they view her as co-redemptress. And yet where is anywhere in the Scripture the biblical authority that we pray to Mary, or any other saint for that matter. Did not Jesus, in John 14:6 tell us as clearly as it can be said, \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.\u201d\n\n1 Timothy 2:5 says, \u201cThere is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.\u201d There are no other mediators between God and man. How do I know that? Because to be a mediator between God and man you have to be God and man, don\u2019t you? Isn\u2019t this the great conundrum of Job, in Job 19? Didn\u2019t Job say if I could just get into heaven and present my case I would do it, but alas, I have no umpire, I have no mediator, I have no one to lay his hand upon me and God. And Job, of course, is the oldest book of the Bible; where is my mediator?\n\nThe rest of the Bible answers that question. Jesus is the mediator, because to mediate between two sides you have to be on both sides, in a certain sense. How do you mediate between God and man unless you are the unique God-Man? The incarnation, a fancy word for it is the hypostatic union, there only is one mediator qualified because there is only one God-Man, 100% God, 100% man.\n\nMary, as beautiful and as wonderful of a figure she is in the Scripture has no such qualification. She certainly is God-man; nobody is God-man, only Jesus Christ is God-man, consequently only He is qualified to be the mediator between God and man.\n\nEvery once in a while over at the school where I teach I get a Roman Catholic student. How does a Roman Catholic student get admitted to our school? Well, they didn\u2019t tell us they were Roman Catholic, so they told us what we wanted to hear on the application form, they kind of slip under the radar, and there you are in a classroom with somebody that prays to Mary and these kinds of things. And I remember one e-mail this particular individual graduated from our school, he immediately got a job as a teacher somewhere, and he wanted to thank God, and he wanted to thank our faculty, so he started naming the faculty, I thank this person, I thank this person, I thank this person, and he starts talking about how he thanks the Lord Jesus Christ who has been interceding for him and I wish the e-mail ended there. Then he starts thanking Thomas Aquinas, a theologian of the past, for his intercession, and you read something like this and you say how could a person sit under solid doctrine for so long to get a degree at a biblically based institution and still hold to this tired worn-out tradition that there are other mediators?\n\nThe fact of the matter is, there is only one mediator between God and man, the Man, Christ Jesus. I love Mary and I respect Mary and I would love to do an in depth study on Mary\u2019s life sometime, but the fact of the matter is, I have no authority as a reader of the Word of God, or a teacher of the Word of God, to promote concepts that are not written in the Word of God.\n\nAnd so we see Jesus here, at the end of His life placing Mary under the authority of John. Likely on Christ\u2019s mind is Exodus 20:12 provision for His own parents. [Exodus 20:12, \u201cHonor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged I the land which the LORD your God gives you.\u201d]\n\nAnd then Jesus now, instead of speaking to Mary and John now He begins to speak to the soldiers gathered with Him there at the cross. Notice, if you will, John 19:28, it says, \u201cAfter this, Jesus, knowing that all things had already been accomplished to fulfill the Scripture, said, \u201cI am thirsty.\u2019\u201d Now what does this mean here in verse 28 where Jesus, as John is writing, \u201cknowing that all these things had already been accomplished?\u201d It hadn\u2019t been accomplished yet.\n\nThe death of Jesus Christ is not going to take place until a few verses later; certainly the resurrection of Jesus Christ would take place subsequent to the death of Christ. So how could John say, how could Jesus insinuate that all things have been accomplished? What you will discover is this happens quite frequently in John\u2019s Gospel. All the way back in the Upper Room, John 17:4 Jesus says, \u201cI glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.\u201d How could He say that, \u201chaving accomplished the work,\u201d He hadn\u2019t even been taken to the cross yet?\n\nAnd what you have to understand in the bible is, this is what we call proleptic speech, if you want a fancy name for it, there are some things in God that are so certain, there are some things in God which are so ironclad that although in fact those things haven\u2019t been accomplished yet God can look at those things as if they\u2019ve already happened. Because the last time I checked God is outside of time. That\u2019s why the Scripture says in Psalm 90:4, and it\u2019s repeated over in 2 Peter 3:8, it talks about how with the Lord a day is a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. [2 Peter 3:8, \u201cBut do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.\u201d]\n\nGod does not have to wait for tomorrow to find out what tomorrow will bring forth. God is already there, because unlike us, who have to wait for tomorrow to know what tomorrow will bring forth, God is not bound by time. We are bound by time. And that\u2019s why the Scripture can speak things as if they will certainly happen, although those things have not yet actually transpired; proleptic speech.\n\nIf you\u2019ve been to the Rose Parade you might know what I\u2019m talking about; you know there\u2019s people that spend the night to get a good seat or place of observance at the Rose Parade. What do you see at the Rose Parade? Well, you\u2019re there on, let\u2019s say Colorado Boulevard and you see these floats going by, one by one. And you\u2019re getting a perspective of the parade in piecemeal fashion. Then you watch the whole thing on TV and they give you a different point of view; you get the helicopter shot, you get the aerial shot, and in some cases if the aerial shot is very good you can see the first float in the parade and you can see the last float in the parade because you\u2019re looking at it from a different perspective or point of view.\n\nWhat is our point of view? Our point of view is Colorado Boulevard, watching the floats go by, one by one. What is God\u2019s point of view? The aerial shot, the helicopter shot. God, who is outside of time, God who is not bound by time, God who does not have to wait for tomorrow to see what a day will bring forth, He looks at life through a totally different perspective and consequently God, from that perspective has the ability to declare the end from the beginning, because in God there is no end or beginning, is there?\n\nAnd this is why so much of the Scripture is troubling to us because it\u2019s placing events in the past tense as if they\u2019ve already happened, and we say well how can it be in the past tense, it hasn\u2019t happened yet. Oh, the problem is, you\u2019re looking at it from your point of view. God, in His Word, oftentimes is looking at it from His point of view and revealing it from His point of view.\n\nI\u2019m reminded of the book of Jude, verse 14, I was teaching Jude over at the school and one of my students, the first class I had over there, she said to me, I don\u2019t understand the verb tenses in Jude 14, and I said let me look at it. Jude 14 says this, \u201cIt was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, \u2018Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones.\u201d An obvious statement about the return of Christ all the way in the beginning Jude records Enoch making a statement that the Lord came. And fortunately this student asked me this question in private, not in public, because I didn\u2019t know the answer. So I said I\u2019ll be back in a week, maybe I\u2019ll have something for you. And I started to look into it and what you discover is this happens quite frequently in the Bible. Why does it happen quite frequently in the Bible? Because God is looking at it from His timeless point of view.\n\nDid you know that you are already glorified if you\u2019re in Christ? You say, well, I don\u2019t feel glorified, and you all certainly don\u2019t look glorified either. But biblically speaking you are glorified if you\u2019re \u201cin Christ.\u201d\n\nLook at the verb tenses here. It says, [Romans 8:29] \u201cFor those whom He foreknew,\u201d it\u2019s articulating the various phases of our salvation, \u201cfor those He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; [30] and these whom He predestinated, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified, and those whom He justified, He also glorified.\u201d\n\nSo in salvation history I was foreknown and I was predestined, these are all past tense verbs, and then I was called, and then the point in time came where I trusted Christ as my Savior and I was justified before God. And all of that happened in the past, and even though I\u2019m not dead yet, Paul tells me I\u2019ve already been glorified. The glorification has already happened from God\u2019s point of view. God looks at things so differently than we do; we come to God and say Oh, Lord, it\u2019s just me, we get into our warm theology, Oh Lord, it\u2019s just me, I know I blew it big time last week, but if You could just see fit to answer this one little prayer request I would appreciate it. And God is saying of course I want to answer your prayer request, because I\u2019m seeing you not as you see yourself, I am seeing you with the same righteousness of My Son.\n\nThis is why the Scripture says go boldly into the throne room of God that you might receive help in time of need. [Hebrews 4:16, \u201cLet us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.\u201d KJV] Why would I be fearful? Why would I be worrisome? Why would I be intrepid? Why would I have no confidence? If I understand who I am in Christ I understand that I\u2019m already glorified, because God, who is not bound by time, does not have to wait for tomorrow, for the events of tomorrow to occur.\n\nThis is why, when Joshua is sent out in the book of Joshua to gain victory over the city of Jericho, study that out in the book of Joshua. God tells Joshua before you even fight the battle you have already won; the battle is over. But Lord, I haven\u2019t done the battle plan yet. Oh, it doesn\u2019t matter, from My point of view the battle is already won, it\u2019s proleptic speech. He is declaring something that hasn\u2019t happened yet with such confidence the verb tense places it in the past tense.\n\nHow in the world, if what I\u2019m saying is true, can we be so foolish as to fall for the idea that we can lose our salvation? How could I lose my salvation and somehow commit some kind of sin and they never tell you which sin it is you have to commit to lose your salvation, they just leave you in a perpetual state of fear your whole life, but how could I do anything to derail my future glorification when God is looking at my future glorification as if it\u2019s already occurred?\n\nThere\u2019s no need, beloved, to be afraid of losing your salvation. There is no need to have a warm theology where we\u2019re just begging and pleading with God for a little crumb of bread. That is not who we are; that is not our identity. We are already glorified. And it\u2019s a beautiful thing to understand, and it\u2019s a beautiful thing to begin to grow into, and begin to comprehend. And so much of our lives is spent in poverty, when in reality we need not live in poverty, we\u2019re rich.\n\nIt\u2019s like these stories that you read about every once in a while in a newspaper, or sometimes they\u2019re on the news, you have somebody living in a cardboard box, they are living on the street, they are living in total humble conditions, and the reality of the situation is they don\u2019t have to live that way. Why is that? Because Uncle So and So, or Grandpa So and So just left them a million dollars, the money is in the bank. Yet because they don\u2019t know the money is there, and in some cases they don\u2019t know how to access the money, they live in a poverty stricken condition when they don\u2019t have to.\n\nDoesn\u2019t that describe what most of our lives are like, if we\u2019re honest with ourselves in Christ? We live as if we\u2019re spiritual paupers, because we have not taken time to investigate the Scriptures and learn what we have. Ephesians 1:3 says, you have been \u201cblessed,\u201d past tense, you have been \u201cblessed with every\u201d not some, \u201cevery spiritual blessing.\u201d And we say Lord, I\u2019m coming to you and I want you to bless me, and the Lord is saying what else do you want, I\u2019ve given you all the blessings you can possibly have; you have every blessing.\nAnd how different the motivation is for service and giving. Do you realize that a large section of the body of Christ is taught the doctrine that you have to give money to get; you have to give to be blessed. What sort of nonsense is this? We don\u2019t give to be blessed; we give because we are blessed. I don\u2019t serve God because somehow I\u2019m trying to gain His favor; I serve Him and I worship Him and I love Him and I adore Him, not because I\u2019m trying to get something from Him, I can\u2019t believe what He\u2019s done for me. I certainly can\u2019t believe a guy like myself, with all my screwy hang-ups, is already glorified.\n\nHow could you not want to serve God? How could you not want to worship God? How could you not want to pray to God? How could you not want to give to God when God has done so much for us? What is the story of the Bible? The story of the Bible is not what man does for God. If you are here today and you think this is all about what you\u2019ve got to do for God you missed the whole point. The story of the Bible is what God has done for man. He\u2019s done it all.\n\nI wanted to make it to verse 30 because I had a great gospel tie-in, but it doesn\u2019t look like it\u2019s going to happen. God is outside of time but we\u2019re not so\u2026 but even so, this concept of proleptic speech, speaking the future as if it already happened, what a great tie-in to the gospel. \u201cGospel\u201d means good news. All of these riches can be accessed in a moment of time, whether you understand everything in your ledger, your asset sheet, that will come with growth. But the first thing you need to do is you need to get into this relationship with God. You need to get into this relationship with your Creator and your Redeemer. The story of the Bible is not what we have to do to make ourselves right with God. The story of the Bible is He\u2019s done it all.\n\nAnd thus the only way to receive it is by a free gift. As I\u2019ll be sharing next week there\u2019s only one way to receive a free gift\u2026 only one way to receive it, biblically. You can\u2019t receive it any other way other than by faith. \u201cWithout faith,\u201d Hebrews 11:6 says, \u201cit is impossible,\u201d it doesn\u2019t say it\u2019s difficult, \u201cit is impossible to please God.\u201d \u201cAbraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness.\u201d [Galatians 3:6] What accessed Abraham into that relationship with God? Faith. What pleases God? Faith!\n\nWhat is faith? It\u2019s trust, it\u2019s reliance, it\u2019s dependence upon, it\u2019s confidence in, it has so nothing to do with walking an aisle! I\u2019m not against people walking aisles but you need to understand that walking an aisle doesn\u2019t do anything. It\u2019s the faith expressed in the heart that\u2019s the condition. It has nothing to do with raising a hand; may I be even so bold as to say this; it doesn\u2019t even have anything to do with praying the sinner\u2019s prayer. You can pray the sinner\u2019s prayer if you want, I prayed the sinner\u2019s prayer but in hindsight I realized that the sinner\u2019s prayer was just a way that my faith was being expressed. The major issue is faith or confidence or trust.\n\nIt has nothing to do with joining a church. It has nothing to do with New Year\u2019s resolutions. It has nothing to do with some sort of moral self-revolution that we feel we have to put ourselves through. The gospel is not fixing yourself up and come to Jesus. That\u2019s not the gospel. The gospel is come to Jesus by way of faith and then as you grow He has already given you the power to have the moral revolution. That\u2019s the gospel.\n\nAnd so the Spirit of God has come into the world to convict men and women of this truth. Christianity is the only belief system on planet earth throughout the corridors of all the religions in the world that teaches what I\u2019m saying right now. You will not find this truth in any other religious system. You, God forbid, seldom even find it in the professing evangelical church because we become so works oriented, because that\u2019s our core nature, that we end up perverting the doctrine of grace. We end up giving, in many cases, to people a works oriented gospel because we just don\u2019t understand the things God as we should. And so becoming a Christian is something you can do right now as I am speaking, you don\u2019t have to tell anybody about it, but you can. You don\u2019t have to pray about it, but you can, if you want. You don\u2019t even have to cry, I mean, come on pastor, you\u2019re going to at least make them cry a few crocodile tears, aren\u2019t you? A little bit of emoting, cry, cry a river, the fact of the matter is crying doesn\u2019t save anybody.\nIt\u2019s faith that saves. Now if you faith is expressed in those ways then that\u2019s terrific, but crying means absolutely nothing.\n\nAnd so our exhortation to you is as the Spirit of God places some of you, no doubt, under conviction, is to respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, to believe and trust in this gospel, to trust in the message of Jesus Christ for the safekeeping of your soul. And if that\u2019s something you have done or are doing then on the authority of the Word of God you\u2019ve just altered your eternal destiny. Shall we pray.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t