A Lesson in the Spiritual, Part 2

If you're going to be a kingdom disciple and a kingdom Christian, you've got to use kingdom methods. Dr. Tony Evans' worldly ways can fulfill kingdom purposes. What we often do is we want the source, but we want the world's methods. And once you do that, the Bible calls that double-minded. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Some of life's most important truths are only revealed when we take a look beyond the obvious. Today, Dr. Evans walks us through the betrayal and trial of Jesus, showing how those physical events point to a deeper spiritual reality. Let's join him in the Gospel of John as he uncovers how God is always at work behind the scenes. So it is now time for things to move rapidly to the crucifixion. A transition is made in chapter 17 to a prayer. We call it Jesus' High Priestly Prayer as he's now about to enter into the events that will lead to Golgotha and Calvary. Jesus approaches God in prayer, lifting up his eyes to heaven.

Verse 1 says, he says, Father, the hour has come. I glorified you on earth, Jesus says in verse 4, that as I live for your glory to highlight you. How did Jesus glorify the Father? He says in verse 4, because I accomplished the work which you have given me to do. So the way the Son glorifies the Father is by fulfilling the will for his life. The way we glorify the Son who glorifies the Father is doing the will of God.

So what glorifies God the most is doing his will. So he makes a request. I ask on their behalf. So this is Jesus' prayer.

I do not ask on behalf of the world. This is now a prayer for Christians only. But for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. Because if you belong to Christ, you also belong to the Father. All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine.

Again, he brings this inner Trinitarian working, and I have been glorified in them. Because as they take my word, which is your word, then we're operating on the same word. And so I ask on their behalf, I am no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world, because Jesus is going to leave the world. And I come to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name. The name in Scripture refers to not only nomenclature, the word, but the name refers to the character of an individual, the attributes, the things that make up that person, who they are. That's the name. It's the person behind the word. So when he says, I want you to keep them in your name, keep them connected to your person, the name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. So here's a request.

The request is for unity. And so he says, verse 12, while I was with them, I was keeping them in your name, keeping them connected to your person, which you have given me. And I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. That is, he covered the disciples. None of them apostatized or departed from him except Judas. And Judas, when he did it, was only fulfilling the Scripture. So even when you're rebelling against God, you're only going to wind up fulfilling God's will. So he comes in in prayer and he says, in verse 13, these things I speak in the world so that they may have my joy made full in themselves.

So this is very important. Notice it's his joy, it's not your joy. So what Jesus is doing is he's sharing the joy he has with his disciples, who are keeping his word and maintaining identification with the Lord's name. So your identification with Christ and his Father frees them up to share his joy with you.

Joy is the stability God gives you in spite of the trouble you may be in or the world may be creating around you. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. And as you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. So you are to make your presence known, felt in the world. For their sake, I sanctify myself. I set myself apart, and they themselves also may be sanctified in the truth. I do not ask for just them, but for all, that they may all be one. Here's this thing of unity again.

So that the world may believe that you sent me. Unity is not sameness, and neither is unity uniformity. Unity is oneness of purpose. All through this prayer, he's fulfilled the purpose of God. You are not unified because you are the same. You are unified because you're operating in truth toward the same goal. All righteous Father, although the world has not known you, that is, those who rejected you, rejected me, which means they rejected him, yet I have known you, and these have known that you sent me, because they believed on him as we have, and have made your name known to them. And we'll make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them. So the Father, the Son, us caught up with the Father and the Son.

I mean, it's much bigger than you going to heaven. It's a whole, whole inter-Trinitarian relationship that he wants us to piggyback on as we are sanctified in his Word, as we are unified, we will see much more of the power of God being expressed. So here we are now, Jesus' prayer.

He's prayed, and now it's time, because that's how he introduced his prayer, the hour has come. So when he had spoken these words, he goes forth with his disciples into a garden, and now Judas shows up with Roman officers and with the chief priests and Pharisees. So what Judas has achieved is very interesting. He's gotten the Romans and the Jews to agree to work together against Jesus. You have to understand, the Jews couldn't stand the Romans, because they were under Roman domination. They were basically slaves of Rome. They hated being under Rome, okay? But they hated Jesus more. And so they were willing to join forces with their slave masters to deal with Jesus. So they come, and Jesus, knowing all the things that were coming upon him, because, of course, he's the son of God too, went forth and said to them, Whom do you seek? So he took the initiative.

Who y'all looking for? They answered and said, Jesus of Lazarus. Jesus said, Here I am.

I'm here. And Judas also was betraying them, was standing with them. And when he had said this to them, I am he, look at this, they drew back and fell to the ground. Now all he said was three words. He said, I am he.

And they all went back and fell to the ground. So whatever Jesus said had some punch to it. I mean, whatever Jesus said literally knocked them off their feet. But all he said was, I am he. The problem is those first two words, I am. Remember all through the book of John, he's been saying, I am. In fact, he told the Jews before Abraham was, I am. That was a designation of God. The I am, that's what God told Moses his name was.

I am, that is the eternally present one. So when Jesus said that, deity must have come forth with such force that it drove them back and knocked them off their feet. And so that was the assertion. And therefore he asked them again, who do you seek? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth.

And he said, I told you, I am he. So if you seek me, let these go their way. Don't bother the disciples, you're looking for me, you got me. To fulfill the word which he spoke of those whom you have given me, I lost not one. Now this brings into a whole theology of God's protection because he knew the disciples would be vulnerable too because they were with him. But he had prayed, Lord, I want to protect them. So when you're in the will of God, you are covered unless God says otherwise. Because his prayer was that nothing would happen to them.

And so he intervened for them. Verse 10, Simon Peter cuts off a guy's ear. Simon Peter then, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's slave and cut off his right ear and the slave's name was Malchus. Now you don't see it here, but in Luke 22, Jesus puts his ear back on.

Okay? So when Luke records this cutting of the ear, cuts off his ear, Jesus picks it up and puts it back on. Now I would have changed my view of arresting Jesus right there. I don't know about y'all, but I'd have to rethink, I'd have to rethink. I just got knocked to the ground.

I just saw an ear get put back on a guy. I got to rethink, I got to rethink this thing. But they were so anti-Jesus that that didn't matter. Jesus said to Peter, put away your sword into your sheep. The cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it. This is the Father's will.

And even your good intentions to help me out are out of place. Because I've got to fulfill my Father's business. When Dr. Evans continues, in just a moment, he'll introduce us to the first of six trials Jesus faced before he was crucified. First, though, the lesson we're in the middle of today is one of the final installments in Tony's 14-part sermon series on the Gospel of John. Throughout this study, Dr. Evans has been exploring the words, thoughts, and actions of Jesus as recorded in John's first-hand account of the Savior's life.

As we more fully understand Christ's divine mission, we find comfort and hope and are encouraged to live a life of purpose in light of His love and sacrifice. This complete study is available for your own personal audio library on CD or digital download, and it includes material we haven't had time to present on the broadcast. This is a valuable collection of messages, and for the next few days we're making them all available bundled along with Tony's classic book, Dry Bones Dancing, a look at how to inject new life and vitality into a faith that has grown old and dusty. Get them both as a gift with our thanks when you make a donation toward the alternative broadcast ministry. Do that online today at tonyevans.org.

Details on this special offer are right on the home page. Again, that's tonyevans.org, or reach out to our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 for some in-person help. That's 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat our contact information for you after the second part of today's lesson.

Here's Dr. Evans once again. Now you're introduced to the first of six trials. There were six trials that Jesus went through before he was crucified. Simon Peter was following Jesus, and so was another disciple. The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. Jesus says to him, I have spoken openly to the world.

I mean, it's not a secret. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together, so I did this publicly. Why do you question me about what I taught?

I mean, if you really have a question, why don't you question the folk who listen to me? So for that, he gets slapped in his mouth. So Annas sent him to Caiaphas, his son-in-law, the high priest. Now, Simon Peter is standing, and he's warming himself, and somebody else asks him, you're not one of his disciples, are you? He denied it. He said, I am not. One of the slaves of the high priest, being a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, did I not see you in the garden with him? Peter then denied it again. No, I am not one of his disciples.

Now you got cock-a-doodle-doo. Immediately, a rooster crowed. So Pilate comes out to them, and he wants to know, okay, what accusation do you have against this guy? The answer they said to him is, this man, we're not an evildoer.

We would not have delivered him to you. One reason we're bringing him to you, as Roman governor, is because he is an evildoer that belongs in your court, bringing him to you, bringing him to a Gentile's house. Pilate said, take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law. The Jews said, we are not permitted to put anyone to death. Okay, so now you see. The reason we're bringing him to you is we want him killed, but we don't have that authority.

You do. So in merely bringing him to Pilate, they're fulfilling two prophecies. The physical method of death to include the Gentiles, and the spiritual purpose of death to include the Jews, because that would bring the curse of God on Jesus for the sins of the world. So in that one statement, Scripture's being fulfilled that he would be killed by Jews and Gentiles. So see, there's a lot going on here in terms of the fulfillment of Scripture. So Pilate brings Jesus in and says to him, okay, these folks are all shook up because you're going around saying you're the king of the Jews.

Okay, I don't even know why they bought this to me. Basically, Pilate is going to say, this is John's problem. King of the Jews, if you ain't your king, you ain't your king, you ain't got nothing to do with us.

But okay, they brought it to me. So let me just ask you, are you king of the Jews? Jesus answered, are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about me? Are you asking me because you want an answer for you, or you answered this because other folk are just wanting me to say it to you?

Paulus says, I am not a Jew, am I? I mean, look, I ain't in this stuff. Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me.

What have you done? I don't even know why I'm in this. This is y'all's religious stuff. Jesus answered, okay, you want to know if I'm a king? All right, let me answer you. My kingdom is not of this world.

There's a whole lot in that one. Number one, if you got a kingdom, you're a king. So I'm a king and I have a kingdom, but it's not from here. It's in here, but not from here. In other words, its source. Its source is not from the earth. Its source is not from the Jewish people. It is not of this world, it's from another world.

So Jesus now lays claim to heaven. If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not of this realm.

Now watch this. Because my kingdom is not from this world, I don't use this world's methods. Because if my kingdom was of this world and I was fighting for my kingdom, then my servants would be fighting. But I stopped one of my servants from fighting. In fact, I put the boy's ear back. Because my kingdom is not from here, my methods don't emanate from here.

Now that's serious business there. Because if you're going to be a kingdom disciple and a kingdom Christian, you got to use kingdom methods. See, because what a lot of people want is they want the kingdom from heaven while they use the methods of earth. And Jesus says, because my kingdom is not from here, neither are my methods. My kingdom comes from a spiritual source, so I use spiritual methodology.

But what we often do is we want the source, but we want the world's methods. And once you do that, the Bible calls that double-minded. So you're trying to deal with both places at the same time, which the Bible says, let not the double-minded man think he will receive anything from the Lord, James 1.5.

So if you want heaven to come down, but you use an earth that is illegitimately using earth because it doesn't agree with heaven, then you're doing something heaven cannot get involved with, because that's double-mindedness. So Paulus says, so you are a king. Okay, Jesus said, okay, I see you just want me to just blurt it out.

Yes! He says, you say correctly, for this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who's of the truth hears my voice. Paulus asks the famous question in verse 38, what is truth? And that would be a great question today, because nobody knows what truth is. It's my truth, your truth, I feel it is true, I don't know if it's true, I guess it's true, because people do not have an absolute standard by which reality is measured.

So we play hit and miss games. God is the truth. Jesus says, I am the way and the truth. So he comes to the final two verses.

When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, I find no guilt in him. I can't find anything for capital punishment. Y'all need to take care of this.

I don't find anything that's worthy of the governor's office. But you have a custom that I release someone to you at the Passover that has set somebody free. You have a custom. Do you want them that I release to you the King of the Jews? So they cried out again saying, not this man, but Barabbas. Barabbas is a zealot. They went around the Roman hillsides killing Roman soldiers, robbing from Rome because they were against the Roman slavery of the Jewish people.

So what they chose was a robber and a murderer. They wanted physical deliverance from Rome, political deliverance from Rome, social deliverance from Rome, which is what the zealots represented. What they were unwilling to accept was spiritual deliverance, which would have led to physical deliverance. They wanted the physical without the spiritual, and they would get neither. Because at 70 AD, all of Jerusalem would be destroyed, the temple would be destroyed, and all of that, all because they wanted the physical without the spiritual.

And the reason I bring that up is because that's true today. Congress wants the physical without the spiritual. Social scientists, police, they want the physical without the spiritual.

God promised in the year of Jubilee, Leviticus 25, that He would reorder society and bring society back in harmony, but only after the Day of Atonement. In other words, you had to deal with it spiritually in order to get the physical you were looking for, or the social, or the political. So the further our country and our culture gets away from God while trying to seek political, social solutions, it will get neither, because you cannot dismiss God and have social order. So the increasing dismissal of God automatically brings greater social chaos.

But that's not only true of a country, that's true of a life, or a family. You dismiss God's truth for your perspective, and the further it goes to the periphery, the more you create a vacuum in nature that will be filled with more chaos. Dr. Tony Evans, with a cautionary note and a lesson in the spiritual from the pages of Scripture. Well, as I mentioned earlier, all 14 full-length messages in this sermon collection on the Gospel of John can be yours with our thanks when you make a donation to the Alternative Broadcast Ministry. You'll receive the complete two-volume series on CD or downloadable MP3s, as well as a copy of Tony's encouraging book, Dry Bones Dancing. Take advantage of this limited-time offer today by calling 1-800-800-3222. Resource team members are on hand 24-7 to help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or make the arrangements and get your digital downloads right away at TonyEvans.org.

Again, that's TonyEvans.org. Now, before I share what's coming up next time, I want to quickly let you know that a new episode of Stories from the Storyteller is just days away. If the kids in your life haven't discovered this popular animated series yet, now's the perfect time to introduce them. Stories from the Storyteller follows the Evans family as everyday moments become powerful lessons from the Bible. In Stand Your Ground, the Evans kids are caught off guard when Tyson pressures them to break the rules. It's a fun episode with a meaningful message, helping kids learn how to stand firm against temptation. Find out more at TonyEvansTV.com. That's TonyEvansTV.com. Well, tomorrow Dr. Evans explores the events of Jesus' death and resurrection, exploring how they fulfill numerous Old Testament prophecies, prophecies that, like scattered puzzle pieces, only make sense in the light of Christ's completed work on the cross. I hope you'll join us for that.