Would you turn back to John chapter
18? I have entitled this message, His
Disciples and His Doctrine. His Disciples and His Doctrine. Now, that passage of scripture
that I just read was the beginning of the inquisition of the Lord
Jesus Christ. An inquisition is an examination
and inquiry to gather evidence against. And this is actually
the first time that his body received a blow. During his passion,
he was struck by one of the officers for his response. Look once again
at verse 19. The high priest then asked Jesus
of his disciples. And of his doctrine. He wanted to know of his disciples
and of his doctrine to find a reason to condemn him. Question, who
are his disciples? Here's the answer. They who adhere
to his doctrine. What is his doctrine? It is that
which his disciples adhere to. Wherever you have one, you have
the other. Where you have the true doctrine
of Christ, you have the true disciples of Christ. And wherever
you have disciples of Christ, you have the doctrine of Christ. When you have the one, you have
the other. Verse 19, the high priest then
asked Jesus of his disciples and of his doctrine. Jesus answered
him. I spake openly to the world.
I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whether the
Jews always resort and in secret, have I said nothing. Why askest
thou me? Ask them which heard me, what
I've said unto them. Behold, they know what I've said. If you want to know what a man
really believes, don't ask him. Ask those who hear him. They're the ones who can tell
you what he really believes. It's what a man preaches publicly
that he really believes. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, who is the greatest preacher
of all time? It's not hard to answer, is it?
The Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely the greatest preacher of all
time. And we learn in this passage
of scripture something about what true preaching really is. Notice, he says in verse 20,
I speak openly to the world. Now, by the world, he means everybody. He didn't have a special group
that he said one thing to, and another group he said another
thing to. He had the same thing for everybody, the world. He
didn't have a special demographic. I speak openly to the world.
Notice he says, I speak openly to the world. I speak boldly
to the world. He didn't speak in ambiguous
language that could be accepted by everybody and offended no
one. He didn't speak that way at all.
He didn't speak in such a way as you couldn't be sure of what
he was saying. It could mean this or it could mean that. No,
he spake with boldness. That's what the word is, without
apology, unashamedly, not worrying about the offense that it would
bring. He spake openly to the world. Notice he says, I ever
taught in the synagogue. True preaching is teaching. If
there's no teaching, there's no preaching going on. I ever
taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whether the Jews
always resort and in secret, have I said nothing. I'm not trying to trick anybody. I'm being above board. I'm not
trying to manipulate the situation in order to elicit a certain
response. I'm simply telling the truth. You know, all this
stuff about training people to witness, you know, training people
to witness that's dishonest on the very surface. You're training
them how to trick people. I'm going to, I'm going to try
to manipulate this response. I'm going to say this in order
to set this up. That's dishonest. That's not preaching. Preaching
is never. Something underneath. Turn with
me for a moment to second Corinthians, chapter four. Second Corinthians, chapter four.
Paul says, therefore, seeing we have this ministry, the ministry
of the New Testament as we've received mercy, we think not. But have renounced the hidden
things. Of dishonesty. not walking in
craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, using
the scriptures, pulling them out to maintain my position.
Here's what we do, but by manifestation of the truth. Commending ourselves
to every man's conscience in the sight of God. What is commendation? Manifestation of the truth. That's
what commends man, just telling the truth. Now, that's the way
our Lord preached. He said to these people, He said,
why are you asking me? Ask them that heard me. If you want to know what a man
believes, ask the people who hear him preach. It's only what
we say publicly that we really believe and a false prophet is
not known so much by the error he teaches, although that certainly
can be true, but a false prophet is known by what he does not
say, what he fails to confess. It might be that everything he
says is true, but he leaves out that which is vital and that
which is necessary to really tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. Remember, if I don't tell the
whole truth, what have I told? A lie. Look in John chapter 12. Here's an example of this. Verse 42. Nevertheless, among the chief
rulers also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees,
they did not confess him. They made no public statement
regarding their belief, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise
of God. Now they believe some stuff,
but they wouldn't confess it. And that is not true saving faith. That is just words. His disciples
and His doctrine. Now when our Lord said that,
back to our text in John 18, verse 19, the high priest then
asked Jesus of His disciples and of His doctrine. Jesus answered
him, I spake openly to the world. I ever taught in the synagogue
and in the temple, whether the Jews always resort. And in secret
have I said nothing. Now, why are you asking me? Ask
them which heard me what I've said unto them. Behold, they
know what I said. And when he had thus spoken,
one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm
of his hand saying, answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus
answered him, if I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil,
but if well, why smitest thou me? His disciples and his doctrine,
those two things cannot be separated. His disciples. Our Lord said
in John chapter 8 verse 31, if you continue in my words, Then
are you my disciples indeed." His disciples continue. They
don't begin and stop. They continue in His Word, in
His doctrine. It's called in the Scripture
in 2 John 9, the doctrine of Christ. Now, His doctrine is everything
He said. Is that not true? His doctrine
is everything. He said, hold your finger there
in John 18 and turn to Matthew chapter 28. Beginning in verse 19. Let's
start in verse 18. This is our Lord giving his commission
to his disciples. Verse 18, And Jesus came and
spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and teach. And my marginal reading says
make disciples. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe what?
all things whatsoever I have commanded you." Everything he says is authoritative. It's the Word of God because
of who said it. So his doctrine is everything
he said. The people were astonished at
his doctrine, the Scripture says. For he spake as one having authority,
and not like the scribes. Everything he said recommended
itself as the Word of God, as divine truth. When you hear what
he says, you know this is the truth. This is God's doctrine. His disciples and His doctrine. Now, I want you to notice something
in our text back in John chapter 18. Now, it would be hard to
bring a message on everything he said in one. period, obviously. So I want to see if there's a
way we can narrow this down when it's talking about his disciples
and his doctrine, because his doctrine is everything he said.
And no one has the right to sit in judgment on what he said and
say, well, I think this part's important and this part's not.
This part's of primary importance and this part is not so important.
If God said it, it's of infinite importance. Everything God says
is important. And I don't want to... His doctrine
is the word of God. But how can we narrow this down
into one message? We'll look back in John chapter
18, verse 20. Jesus answered him,
I spake openly to the world, I ever taught in the synagogue
and in the temple, whether the Jews always resort. I taught
in the synagogue and in the temple. Now, many of his mighty works
were done in the synagogue. But there are two, at least two,
only two I know of, maybe there's another one, but there's two
places where we're given the actual content of his message
that he preached publicly in the synagogue. And if you want
to find out what his doctrine is, look at these two messages
where it said he preached in the synagogue. And I want us
to look at these two messages that I found. The first one is
found in Luke chapter four. Would you turn with me there?
What is the doctrine of Christ? Well, it's what His disciples
hold to and adhere to. Who are His disciples? Those
who adhere to His doctrine. Now, let's begin reading in verse
14. This is after the temptation of Christ. Verse 14, And Jesus
returned in the power of the Spirit, into Galilee. And there went out the fame of
him throughout all the region roundabout. And he taught in
their synagogues being glorified of all. They saw these miracles
that he was performing. Verse 16, and he came to Nazareth
where he had been brought up. And as his custom was He went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. Now, before we go on and look
at what he read and what he said, I want us to look at the response
of his audience. His audience heard exactly what
he said to the point that they were filled with rage and wanted
to kill him over what he said. Look at the response to his,
his audience gives him. Verse 28. And all they in the
synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath
and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him under
the brow of the hill where on their city was built that they
might cast him down headlong. These folks were mad. They heard
exactly what he said. He didn't speak an ambiguous
language that could be taken one way or the other. No, they
knew exactly what he said and they were filled with rage over
what he said. Now, What did he say? Here we have the doctrine of
Christ in the synagogue. Verse 17. And there was delivered unto
him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written. And he's quoting from
what we would call Isaiah 61.1. They didn't have chapters and
verse divisions. He just opened up his scroll and found the place
where it was written. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted. to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he
gave it again to the minister, and sat down." And you could
have heard a pin drop. and the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him." Now picture this in
your mind. He reads this passage of Scripture from Isaiah 61,
and in this passage of Scripture, he identifies in no uncertain
terms who it was he was sent for. That's very important. The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me because he hath anointed me for what purpose? To preach the
gospel to the poor. Those who have nothing that would
recommend them to God. They have nothing. Destitute, poor, no righteousness. That's who he came to preach
the gospel to. Next, they're described as the
broken-hearted. Their hearts are no good. Their
hearts don't work. That's why David said, creating
me a clean heart, O God. Mine's no good. Broken hearted. He has sent me to preach deliverance
to the captives. Captive. You don't have freedom. The idea
of free will is ridiculous. Captive. Recovering of sight
to the blind. These people that he came for
are blind. They can't see any reason as
to why God would look in favor toward them. They're blind. To
set at liberty men that are bruised or crushed under a load of sin.
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. That's talking about
the year of Jubilee. These people were in bondage
and He came to preach the acceptable year of the Lord to them. Now
this is His mission. He gives a mission statement.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He's anointed me to preach
the glad tidings to the poor, the gospel. They're the only
ones who can hear. He heals the brokenhearted. He
sets the captive free. Debts are canceled in this year
of Jubilee. I love to think of the year of
Jubilee. Here's what happened. Every 50 years in the land of
Israel, the year of Jubilee was declared. And if you were in
bondage, if you had lost everything and you were in bondage and you
were a slave, when that Jubilee trumpet sounded, you were set
free. Anything you owed was cancelled. You were no longer in debt. What
you lost was restored. And the land was given a year's
rest. I guarantee you there's some people who didn't like the
sound of that trumpet. If somebody owed me money and
all of a sudden they didn't owe me anymore, I'd think that's
not fair. That's what I think. I wouldn't like that. I tell
you the folks who liked it, the folks who were in debt, the folks
who were in bondage, they delighted in this. And that's who's going
to hear the gospel. Now, our Lord says in verse 20
and he closed the book and he gave it to the minister and sat
down and the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were
fastened on him. And he began to say unto them,
this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. I am the me being
spoken of. It's me. I am the one in whom
the spirit of the Lord. I'm the one who does all these
things. He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears, verse 22, and all bear him witness. And wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, Is
not this Joseph's son? This is the carpenter's boy.
What's he doing saying something like this about himself? Verse
23, And he said unto them, You will surely say unto me this
proverb, physician, heal thyself. Whatsoever we've heard done in
Capernaum, do thou hear also in thy country. Our Lord is saying,
I knew you'd have this response. You just want to see the miracles
that I did in Capernaum. This is all this is about. It's
not because of any true worship of my person. Verse 24, and he
said, Verily I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his
own country, but, but I tell you of a truth. Many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three
years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land. But unto none of them was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta,
the city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. Now, just like
Elijah was not sent to help those widows. God passed them by. Your rejection of me demonstrates
that God has passed you by. You see, God is sovereign in
salvation and He's also sovereign in reprobation. And He has passed
you by. That's what He said. And then
He said, just in case you didn't understand, exactly what I said,
verse 27, and there were many lepers in Israel in the time
of Elisha, the prophet, and none of them was cleansed. God didn't
send his prophet to any of them, except for Naaman, a Gentile,
a Syrian. Now, what our Lord is saying
in this passage of scripture, in no uncertain terms, is that
God is utterly sovereign in salvation. Now, you reject me? You only
demonstrate that God has rejected you and passed you by. Now, if that's what my response
to the gospel is, it proves God has passed me by as an act of
His justice. It's right. Now, what was their
response? Now, they heard what He said, didn't they? They heard
what He said. 28, and all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath. You know the way the Lord spoke. He didn't leave any room for,
well, that may mean this and may mean that. No, they were
filled with wrath. And they rose up and thrust him
out of the city and led him under the brow of the hill whereon
their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
but he passing through the midst of them went his way. Turn with me to John six, John chapter six. Now here we have a very long message by the Lord
Jesus Christ. And look in verse 59, These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum. Now, the content of this message
he delivered from the synagogue. And if you want to know what
the doctrine of Christ is, I would suggest you go to John chapter
6. Here we have the doctrine of Christ that he publicly preached
in the synagogue. Verse 60. Many therefore of his
disciples When they had heard this, this message that he brought,
said, this is a hard saying. Who can hear it? That word hard
means harsh, dry, austere, inhumane. Now that was their
response to what our Lord said. They said, this isn't for men,
this is against men. This is not good, this is bad.
We don't like this. We don't like what we're hearing.
That was their response. We do not, these are hard sayings. Who can be expected to listen
to teaching like this? Look what our Lord said. Verse 61, when Jesus knew in
Himself, He knows everything in Himself. that his disciples
murmured at it. He said unto them, doth this
offend you? I love the way he says in verse
62, what he, what he's saying is, if you're offended right
now, you're really going to be offended when you finally see
who I really am. Verse 62, what and if you shall see the Son
of Man ascend up where He was before? It's the Spirit that
quickens or gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The
words that I speak unto you that you're offended by, that you
say, these are harsh sayings, these are inhumane, these are
austere. The words that you're offended
by, the words that I speak unto you, they're Spirit and they're
life. Here's his word, spirit and life. But, verse 64, there are some
of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And
he said, therefore said unto you that no man can come to me
except it were given unto him of my father. From that time,
many of his disciples went back. and they walked no more with
him." Now, were these true disciples? Our Lord said, if you continue
in my word, then are you my disciples. Indeed, obviously they were not
his true disciples. Now, what was the content of
this message that caused all these people to leave? Look back
in verse 25. This is when they found the Lord,
John chapter 6. And when they found him on the
other side of the sea, they said unto him, Rabbi, when camest
thou hither? Remember, he had fed these people
and they wanted to get around him so they could have something
else to eat. Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, you seek me. Not because you saw the miracles,
not because of some conviction regarding who I am, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the meat which
perishes, but for the meat which endures unto everlasting life,
which the Son of Man shall give unto you. For him hath God the
Father sealed. They say unto Him, What shall
we do that we might work the works of God? You're talking
about us laboring for the meat that doesn't perish. What kind
of labor do we need to do? What kind of work do we need
to do? What shall we do that we might work the works of God?
Verse 29, Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work
of God, that you believe on Him whom he hath sent." This is it. You believe on him whom he hath
sent. You know what comes after that?
A period. Verse 30, they said therefore
unto him, what sign showest thou then that we may see and believe? What does thou work? In other
words, they did not believe. They did not believe. Our fathers
that eat man in the wilderness, as it's written, he gave them
bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily
I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but
my father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread
of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto
the world. Then said they unto him, Lord,
evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am
the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I
say unto you that you also see me and believe not." Now, he
looks at these people and he says, you do not believe. What would he say to you? If
he looked into your heart right now? What would he say to you? I know what he said to this group.
You do not believe. Verse 37. Was the Lord frustrated? Disappointed? Can't get people to believe on
Him? Not in any way. He says, All that the Father
giveth Me shall come to Me, and him that cometh to Me I'll in
no wise cast out. Now what He's talking about here
is divine election. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And there's the doctrine of Christ.
Divine election. God choosing who would be saved
before time began. And every single one of them
is going to come to Christ. Every single one of them is going to be saved.
Divine election. That's the doctrine of Christ.
Let's go on reading. Verse 38. For I came down from
heaven not to do mine own will, But the will of Him that sent
me, and this is the Father's will which has sent me, that
of all which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should
raise it up again at the last day." Now, here's the doctrine
of Christ. Effectual redemption. Everybody the Father gave Him,
He's going to save them. Everybody He died for must be
saved. What's your response to this?
Now understand, Jesus Christ did not die for everybody. If
He did, everybody would be saved. But, everybody He did die for
shall be saved. Now what's your response to this?
I know what my response is. My response is, that's the only
hope I've got. This is not bad news. This is good. This is not
harsh and austere. This is good news. He's a successful
Savior. The only hope I have is that
He does everything for me. And if anything's left undone,
I'm undone. This is my only hope. Verse 39. And this is the Father's will,
which is sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. And this
is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth
the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, and
I'll raise Him up at the last day." You know what that means?
Here's the evidence that Christ died for you if you believe.
You believe the gospel? Are you relying on the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ as your full sin payment? And His resurrection
as your salvation? Are you relying only on Him?
He died for you. I guarantee you He did. I guarantee
you He did. Everybody who believes, He died
for them. You see, this doesn't shut anybody
out of the kingdom of heaven. It brings people in. This is
good news. This is the doctrine of Christ. Somebody that doesn't preach
this doctrine does not preach the gospel. They're false prophets. This is the doctrine of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. Let's go
on reading. Verse 41. The Jews then murmured
at him, Because he said, I am the bread which came down from
heaven. They said, is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose
father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith,
I came down from heaven? They're objecting to his person.
You see, the issue is, who is Christ? That's the only issue. He's the one who came down from
heaven. He must be successful in whatever he does. And they
were rejecting him. Verse 43, Jesus therefore answered
and said unto them, murmur not among yourselves. Now look at
this statement. No man can come to me except the father which
has sent me draw him. And notice what he said. No man
can come to me. No man has the ability to come
to me. What our Lord is teaching here
is the absolute inability of the natural man to do anything
in salvation. Now, the the act of spiritual
life is to come to Christ. And I sure hope I'm doing this.
I think I am. I'm coming to him right now and
bowing his feet and saying, Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, save
me by your grace. Let me be found in you. I'm coming
to him right now. Lord, have mercy on me. Now,
that's the simplest act of spiritual life.
And yet no man can do that unless God draws them by invincible,
irresistible grace. He's talking about the absolute,
complete inability of the natural man to save himself. Talking
about total depravity. Total, absolute inability and
depravity. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me. Draw him. And I'll raise him
up at the last day. Verse 45, it is written in the prophets,
And they shall be all taught of God, every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father comes unto me." Here
we're seeing effectual grace. Everybody that God teaches, they
come, every single one of them. The call of God. Verse 46, "...not that any man
hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen
the Father." Verily I say unto you, he that believeth on me
hath everlasting life." He's going to persevere. I am the
bread of life. Your fathers did eat man in the
wilderness or dead. This is the bread which came
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. I'm
the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he'll live forever. And the bread that I'll give
is my flesh which I give for the life of the world. The Jews
therefore strove among themselves. They had a fight over this, saying,
how can this man give his flesh? to eat. They contended and they
fought. Look back in verse 59. These things said he in the synagogue
as he taught in Capernaum. Now there we have his doctrine. He said, I ever taught in the
synagogues. Whether the Jews always resort,
there we have his doctrine. The doctrine of grace, divine
election, effectual atonement, irresistible and invincible grace,
total depravity, The perseverance of the saints. It's what we call
the doctrines of grace. And it's right here in this message. This is the doctrine of Christ. Now, who are His disciples? Those who adhere to this doctrine,
the doctrine of the gospel. They find their salvation in
Him and nowhere else. What is His doctrine? It's what
His disciples adhere to. They can't bear anything else. Now here's how His disciples
react to His doctrine. Verse 66, From that time many of His disciples
went back and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, will you also go away? Five thousand people at least
leaving him. And one thing that hits me like
a ton of bricks. He didn't ask him to come back. He didn't say, let me restate
this, maybe you didn't understand it, nothing like that. He watched
these people leave and he didn't ask them to come back. And he
looked at the 12 and he said, you fellows want to leave too? I'm not going to keep you. If
you want to go with them, there's the door. Now look at Peter's response. Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? It's not like we have any other
options. Thou hast the words of eternal life. These words that these fellows
found harsh, we find these words to be the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God. And I'm going to chime in with
him. I believe. And I'm sure that he is God's
Christ. God, the son, the son of the
living God. I believe. I believe him. And that's what
faith is. And look what the Lord says in
verse 70, I think, Jesus answered them, have not I chosen you? Twelve. Now He makes the exception
of Judas. He says, one of you is a devil.
He realized Judas was going to be the one that would betray
Him. But when Peter says, where would we go? We believe and are
sure you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. The Lord says,
have not I chosen you? That's why you believe. Because
I chose you. And the true disciple, his response
is, I know that's the truth. I know that's the truth. His disciples and his doctrine. Let's pray.