Month: March 2023

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 19

THE CRUCIFIXION

“And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts” (Luke 23:48 ESV).

“The people who had acted under the influence of the priests now yielded to superior influences and began to experience change of sentiment.”1 “Both Jew and Gentile left Calvary that evening heavy-hearted, self-condemned, and ill at ease.”2

The people who came to behold this melancholy spectacle, were wonderfully affected when Jesus gave up the ghost. They had been insistent, with loud voices, to have him crucified; but now that they saw the face of the creation darkened with a sullen gloom during his crucifixion, and found his death accompanied with an earthquake, as if nature had been in an agony when he died, they rightly interpreted these prodigies to be so many testimonies from God of his innocence. 3

God Himself had foreordained the very minutest details of how Jesus would die. Dying was Christ’s consummate act of submission to the Father’s will. Jesus Himself was in absolute control. Yet it was not Jesus alone, but everyone around Him—His enemies included—who fulfilled precisely the details of the OT prophecies. These events display [God’s] divine soverteignty.4

“[T]he cross ‘disarmed’ the demonic ‘powers’ and forged the final triumph over Satan.”5

[I]f we lived more in the atmosphere of the cross sin would lose its power, and every grace would flourish. When we draw very near to Him and have fellowship with Him in His sufferings we raise a hue and cry against the sin which slew Him, and resolve to be revenged upon it by departing from it ourselves.6

“The cross is that holy implement with which we make war with sin till it be utterly destroyed.”7 And this is how we “make war with sin:” “A disciple must deny himself (die to self-will), take up his cross (embrace God’s will, no matter the cost), and follow Christ.”8

“[P]ut off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:22, ESV).

The believer relives the death and resurrection by putting to death the old self and putting on the new. In one sense this is a past act, experienced at conversion. Yet this is also a present act, experienced in the corporate life of the church. In other words, both at conversion and in spiritual growth, the believer must relive the cross before experiencing the resurrection life. The Christian paradox is that death is the path to life!9

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ENDNOTES

(19) CHRIST Surren’dring All

            1. J.W. McGarvey and Philip Y. Pendleton, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1914, The Fourfold Gospel, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tfg.

            2. J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2007) II:481.

            3. Thomas Coke, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1801-1803, Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tcc.

            4. John MacArthur, One Perfect Life (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2012) 436.

            5. Grant Osborne, “Cross, Crucifixion,” 1991, Holman Bible Dictionary, 18 June 2021 https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hbd/c/cross-crucifixion.html.

            6. Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sermons on New Testament Men (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1994) 106-107.

            7. Spurgeon, 107.

            8. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 1841.

            9. Grant Osborne, “Cross, Crucifixion,” 1991, Holman Bible Dictionary, 18 June 2021 https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hbd/c/cross-crucifixion.html.

            10. J. Lathrop, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

            11. W. Landels, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

            12. Charles Spurgeon, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

            13. James Nisbet, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1876, Church Pulpit Commentary, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-cpc.

            14. J. Lathrop, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

            15. W. Landels, “Commentary on Luke 23:48,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://pro.studylight.org/commentary/luke/23-48.html#verse-tbi.

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 18

THE LORD’S SUPPER

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:53-54 ESV).

To ‘eat’ Jesus’ flesh has the spiritual meaning of trusting or believing in him, especially in his death for the sins of mankind. Similarly, to ‘drink his blood’ means to trust in his atoning death, which is represented by the shedding of his blood. The receiving of eternal life through being united with ‘the Son of Man’ is represented in the Lord’s Supper.1

Jesus himself is the origin of the Lord’s Supper. He commanded that it be continued. And he is the focus and content of it. The Lord’s Supper is to focus the mind on Jesus and especially his historical work in dying for our sins. As we do the physical act of eating and drinking, we are to do the mental act of remembering.2

“The power to excite remembrance consists in the appeal made to the senses. Here the eye, the hand, the mouth, find joyful work, and thus the senses, which are usually clogs to the soul, become wings to lift the mind in contemplation.”3

Jesus, who knew our forgetfulness, appointed this festival. Only as it assists remembrance can it be useful. [W]e need that there be a set sign and form to incarnate the spiritual and make it vivid to the mind. [I]t behooves us to keep the name of our Lord engraven on our hearts.4

Christ Himself has appointed this institution and selected for us the part of His mission which He considers the vital and all-important centre—‘This is My body, broken for you. This is the new covenant in My blood, shed for the remission of sins.’ Not His words, not His loving deeds, not His tenderness, does He point us to; but to His violent death, as if He said, ‘There is the thing that is to touch hearts and change lives, and bind men to Me.’ The part of it which most concerns us to remember was this: ‘that He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.’5

“Know nothing except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2 ESV).

“Our obligation duty, and interest all combine to enforce obedience to this last, solemn, and dying command of Christ.”6

“There is no other religion whose believers can look back to a founder who was content to say, ‘Be true to My memory. That is all I command. Let your most solemn worship embody the expression of this remembrance.’”7

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ENDNOTES

(18) CHRIST Inside of Me

            1. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 2035.

            2. John Piper, “Why and How we Celebrate the Lord’s Supper,” 13 August 2006, desiringGod, 11 February 2021 https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/why-and-how-we-celebrate-the-lords-supper.

            3. Charles Spurgeon, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:24,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/11-24.html#verse-tbi.

            4. Spurgeon.

            5. A. Maclearen, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:24,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/11-24.html#verse-tbi.

            6. N. Meeres, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:24,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/11-24.html#verse-tbi.

            7. R.H. Story, “Commentary on 1 Corinthians 11:24,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/11-24.html#verse-tbi.

            8. Don Fleming, “Lord’s Supper,” 2004, Bridgeway Bible Dictionary, 11 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/bbd/l/lords-supper.html.

JESUS! In Word and Song

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WEEK 17

JESUS TRAINING HIS DISCIPLES

Sprinkled throughout the Gospels we have words like, “then JESUS said to His disciples . . .” He spent a great deal of time and energy teaching His chosen apostles.

Two years into His public ministry He inaugurated an intense training of the twelve.

One example of His intense focus on training is found in Luke 12:1.  The narrative starts where there were so many thousands of people gathered to hear Him they were trampling one another.  In this case of life and death, I would assume JESUS would first address the problem of the crowds.  But, He did not. “In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples . . . ”(Luke 12:1 ESV).

Jesus retired three times from Galilee to outlying districts, seeking privacy with the Twelve. Leaving the hot shores of the lake, he planned to spend the summer on the cooler plateaus for more intensive training of those whom he had chosen to become apostles.1

“And he said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’  For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat” (Mark 6:31 ESV).

The disciples must have been happy for those words. But one time when they arrived at their destination they saw a great crowd coming toward them. And JESUS welcomed them. I doubt that the 12 were happy at this. But the disciples’ discouragement most assuredly grew worse when JESUS asked them to feed the crowd of 5000 (Mark 6:37).

[T]he purpose, the goal of our Lord’s dealings with the disciples was to train them in the area of faith. The means of training the twelve in faith was not ‘teaching’ per se, but testing them. Jesus commanded the disciples to obey Him, without having the human means of doing so, and thus having to trust Him to provide for their needs. [T]he events were intended to teach the disciples to trust and to obey.2

“As Christ acted with his disciples while he sojourned with them, so the Holy Ghost acts with those who believe in his name.”3

[A]ll of the commands of God are impossible for fallen, sinful man to obey. That is why we must not only be saved by faith, but we must walk by faith. Jesus’ burden is light, not because it is easy, but because He provides the means to do what He commands.4

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ENDNOTES

(17) When the LORD Was With His Twelve

            1. Orville E. Daniel, The Harmony of the Four Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996) 87-112.

            2. Bob Deffinbaugh, “The Training of the Twelve,” 22 June 2004, Bible.org, 10 February 2021 https://bible.org/seriespage/29-training-twelve-luke-91-27.

            3. Adam Clarke, “Commentary on John 14:16,” 1832, The Adam Clarke Commentary,

10 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/john/14-16.html#verse-acc.

            4. Bob Deffinbaugh, “The Training of the Twelve,” 22 June 2004, Bible.org, 10 February 2021 https://bible.org/seriespage/29-training-twelve-luke-91-27.

            5. John H. Sammis, and Daniel B. Towner, “Trust and Obey,” 1887, Hymnary, 10 February 2021https://hymnary.org/text/when_we_walk_with_the_lord.

            6. John Newton, Letters of John Newton (Carlisle, PA: THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST, 1960, reprinted 1990) 85.

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WEEK 16

JESUS AND THE SABBATH

“The Sabbath in Christ’s time was a veil upon the eyes of the people. It prevented them beholding any duty on that day further than the offering of the set form of sacrifice. But Jesus Christ came to show them of the Father.”1

And, it was to show them that He and the FATHER were One! The Messiah is divine—GOD Himself come down to man. As GOD of the Old Testament commanded a Sabbath (a one-day rest from the rigors of the world), so does GOD’s Son in the New.

“Jesus does not argue with His opponents about whether they understand the Sabbath legislation correctly. His interest is whether they understand who He is.”2

The debate between the Jewish religious leaders and JESUS about the Sabbath came to a head when the leaders realized He was making Himself out to be GOD.  “[T]he Jews never accused our Lord of blasphemy for saying that he was the Messiah, but for saying that He was the Son of God, because they did not believe that Messiah when He appeared was to be a Divine Person.”3

“This is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18 ESV).

This verse begins a long discourse, in which our Lord formally defends himself from the charge of the Jews of laying claim to what He had no right to claim. (1.) He asserts His own Divine authority, commission, dignity, and equality with God His Father. (2.) He brings forward the evidence of His Divine commission, which the Jews ought to consider and receive. (3.) Finally, He tells the Jews plainly the reason of their unbelief, and charges home on their consciences their love of man’s praise more than God’s, and their inconsistency in pretending to honour Moses while they did not honour Christ. It is a discourse almost unrivalled in depth and majesty.4

And, does it not hang heavy on our consciences that we take GOD so lightly that we begrudge the command to think upon Him one day of each week?  

Is it going too far to say, that if our nation repented of its sin and returned to the old path of Sabbath observance, we would again become the leading nation of the world? But though the nation does not return, let us as individuals, and as a church, put this promise to the test and we shall find the Lord faithful.5  

“’If you turn back from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, not seeking your own pleasure, then I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken’” (Isa 58:13-14 ESV).

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ENDNOTES

(16) The Jews Observed the Sabbath

            1. Charles Ellicott, “Commentary on Mark 2:27,” 1905, Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, 10 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/mark/2-27.html#verse-ebc.

            2. R.C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible (Orlando, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2005) 1518.

            3. J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 2007) III:282.

            4. Ryle.

            5. C.E. Hunter, “Keeping the Lord’s Day Holy,” Chapel Library, February 10, 2021 https://www.chapellibrary.org:8443/pdf/books/ktld.pdf.

            6. Philip Schaff, “Commentary on Mark 2:27,” 1879-90, Schaff’s Popular Commentary on the NT, 10 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/mark/2-27.html#verse-scn.

            7. Charles Wesley, and John Darwall, “Rejoice the Lord is King,” 1744, Hymnary, 10 February 2021 https://hymnary.org/text/rejoice_the_lord_is_king_your_lord_and_k.

            8. John 5:19-47.

            9. Matt 12:3-4.

            10. Matt 12:11.

            11. Albert Barnes, “Commentary on Isaiah 58:13,” 1870 Barnes’ Notes on the Whole Bible, 10 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/isaiah/58-13.html.

            12. D. Lloyd, “Commentary on Ezekiel 20:12,” 1905-09, The Biblical Illustrator, 10 February 2021 https://www.studylight.org/commentary/ezekiel/20-12.html.

            13. ESV Study Bible, English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2001, ESV Text Edition: 2011) 1342.

            14. Sinclair Ferguson, “Sabbath Rest,” 1 March 2004, Ligonier Ministries, 10 February 2021 https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/sabbath-rest/.

            15. Alistair Begg, “The Gift of the Sabbath,” 18 July 1999, Truth for Life, The Bible-Teaching Ministry of Alistair Begg, 10 February 2021 https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/the-gift-of-the-sabbath/.