OUTLINE Christ warns us of satanic testing Christ prepares us for new ministry conditions Christ interprets for us His coming death INTRODUCTION If you have ever gone away and had to leave your kids on their own, you will know the type of preparations you made for them. You will have done a final clean of the house; you will have left a list of instructions, and contact details on the fridge; you will have pre-cooked and frozen some meals just in case; you will have stocked the cupboards; you will have got some friends to pop in on them to make sure everything is ok. What preparations does Christ make for His departure as He prepares His disciples not only for His departure, but a new era? We have noted the many things that Christ does in preparing His disciples. He washes their feet; institutes the Lord’s Supper; gives final instructions; gives promises and hope; gives warnings; prays for them. All of this takes place in the upper room. We are looking at Luke’s upper room preparations and we noted that Jesus focuses on several things they need to prepare for before He departs. He warned of a disciple’s apostasy; he outlined a disciple’s paradigm for ministry—servanthood; He spoke of coming rewards for faithful ministry. We pick up on the second part of Christ’s preparations in v31-38. There are three more things Jesus has to prepare His disciples for. Firstly, Christ warns us of satanic testing; secondly, Jesus prepares us for new ministry conditions; thirdly Christ interprets for us His coming death. We will be looking at verses 31-34 under three headings, the testing of satan; the ministry of our Savior; the self-confidence of Peter.

OUTLINE Interpretation Authority

OUTLINE Exposing a false disciple Explaining true discipleship Encouraging faithful disciples INTRODUCTION If you knew you were having your last meal with your loved ones before you died, what would you say to them at this meal? We know of several things that happened at Jesus’s last meal with His disciples. We know that Jesus washed the disciple’s feet. We know He gave the new Commandment. We know that He instituted the Lord’s Supper. In John’s gospel we have what is called the Upper Room discourse where Jesus lectures on many deep and wonderful topics including the coming and ministry of the Holy Spirit. We know He prayed what is called the High Priestly prayer in John 17. As Luke reports the last meal of Jesus with His disciples, as he records the final words spoken. Luke focuses on matters related to preparation and discipleship. As you look at the remaining section from v21-38 you can see at least five things that relate to discipleship. V21-23, Jesus again speaks about His betrayal by a false disciple; in v24-27, Jesus maps out servanthood as the paradigm for leadership; in v28-30, Jesus encourages the disciples with a promise of their final reward and reign; in v31-34, Peter is singled out and warned of his pending testing; and in 35-38, Jesus warns of the coming difficulties for ministry. All of these things had a direct bearing upon the original twelve but have relevance for us as well. We will be dealing with the first 3 of the five matters raised under the headings, exposing a false disciple; explaining true discipleship; encouraging faithful disciples.

OUTLINE Translation Interpretation Arbitration INTRODUCTION Roman Catholicism hated John Wycliffe translating the Bible into the common language of English. The Roman Catholic system was built on the idiosyncrasies of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation. For example, what we know as the word ‘justified’ which means to legally declare one righteous implying a new legal status was translated into the Latin as ‘make righteous’ not ‘declare righteous.’ Wycliffe’s English Bible cut the throat of Rome’s hold on the common mind by his translation. He translated the word ‘presbuteros’ as elder not priest highlighting that there is no NT warrant for a priesthood. He translated ‘ekklesia’ as congregation not church recognizing and legitimizing local churches as churches not the monolithic church of Rome. He translated ‘metanoeo’ as repent and not do penance making forgiveness a direct exchange between the believer and God and not depend upon following stipulations laid out by the church. He translated exomologeo as acknowledge/admit and not confess to show that the Bible did not intend one to go to a confessional and obtain forgiveness from a priest but obtained it directly from God. The word of God in the common tongue is a powerful tool that can bring about personal and societal transformation. We are looking at the 1689 chapter 1 paragraphs 8-10 and we have begun to stress the importance of translation. We have noted the historical resistance to the effort, and the insistence on the Bible being able to be understood and being reliably transmitted down to us. Today we continue looking at this point and others. In paragraph 8 the emphasis on the word of God being given in the Hebrew and Greek was not an attempt to undermine translations but a recognition of the faults in the Vulgate which Erasmus and others had highlighted. It...

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OUTLINE Clarity Reliability INTRODUCTION How many of you have heard of The Old Deluder Satan Act of 1647? ‘Massachusetts passed the Old Deluder Satan Act in 1647, laying the basis for public schools in America. The Puritans valued literacy highly; they believed all individuals should be able to read and interpret the Bible for themselves. In 1642 Massachusetts had required parents to ensure their children’s ability to read, and five years later, in this act, the state mandated community schooling.’ 1 This Act was made law in order to prevent satan from deceiving young people. This conviction that the Bible should be read by all, led to America being a very literate and educated nation, at least for a while. There is little biblical literacy to speak of in America as well as what was once called Christendom today. ‘A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. We are in big trouble.’2 The Puritan forefathers of America were of the Protestant conviction that everyone can and should read their bibles. Given this history of education in America and other Western countries you can see why taking Bible out of schools is a denial of these roots. They believed that they could be understood. This is what lies at the foundation of our next section, chapter 1 paragraphs 7-8. Paragraph 7 talks about how the Bible can be understood and gives rise to the doctrine of the clarity/perspicuity of scripture. Paragraph 8 talks about how the Word of God...

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OUTLINE The timing The plotting The planning INTRODUCTION We enter now into the last 24 hours of Jesus life before His death on Friday at 3pm in what are called the Passion narratives. I feel a great weight of responsibility as we enter this section. I am deeply aware that everything in the Bible leads to and from the moment of Christ dying on the cross. Thousands of years of expectation, with prophecies and promises and types are all pointing to this moment. Pray for me as we proceed that God will give me the ability to bring the weight of these things to bear. As we look at Luke 22:1-13 a good question to begin with is who killed Jesus? This question forces us to reckon with who is in control of what is about to unfold. There are many people involved and many forces at play, there are the religious leaders acting like politicians who are trying to make the practical choices that will secure their own and Israel’s future, as well as the people of Israel themselves. There is Judas who is driven by his own vices. There are the 12 disciples. There is Pilate, Herod, those on the Sanhedrin like Nicodemus who do not want Jesus to be killed. Of course under it all there is satan; and there is Jesus Himself and God. The complexity of people, ambitions, desires and agendas remind us of the complexity of the world that we live in. We can feel overwhelmed as we observe the unifying march of Leftist ideology, the desperate and scrambling attempt of conservatives to resist, we see those grabbing for power, for influence, for wealth. We see false justice, no justice and little true justice. With situations like the present war in the Ukraine and...

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OUTLINE Completeness of scripture Cessation of scripture Illumination of scripture Principles of scripture INTRODUCTION A challenge that every Christian faces is the question whether the bible is enough. In every age there is a challenge to the sufficiency of scripture. The Bible and … was a challenge that was faced at the time of the Reformation. On the one hand you had the Roman Catholic Church saying that the Bible and Tradition was necessary for the Christian; from another side you had the Anabaptist accusing the Reformers of having a dead letter, they were encouraging mystical experiences, prophecies, visions and dreams in addition to the Bible; from another side were the rationalists like the Socinians who denied historic Christian beliefs like the Trinity and original sin whose preconceived notions were brought to bear upon the Bible. Tradition, so called spiritual experiences, reason these were all challengers to the sufficiency of scripture. Today we have seen other contenders, psychology and the Bible, science and the Bible, critical race theory and the Bible, communism and the Bible. The devil attacked God’s word in the garden and has not stopped. Paragraph 6 of chapter 1 is the reformed response to these challengers affirming the sufficiency of scripture. We will be looking at this paragraph under four headings. Completeness of scripture; Cessation of scripture; Illumination of scripture; Principles of scripture.

OUTLINE The certainty of that day Preparing for that day INTRODUCTION We come to the final part of Jesus teaching in the temple. You will notice in v37-38 that there is a summarizing statement describing Jesus teaching in the temple and the people coming to listen. The last words of Jesus public ministry as recorded by Luke have to do with the last events in history before His return. Christ in this sermon to end all sermons has discussed some of the heaviest and hardest topics. He has discussed the end of the OT, a period which closes with a judgement. He discusses the end of the world which too will close with a judgement. He has indicated that there will be a delay between these judgements and that it will be a time of great difficulty for Christians. It will be a time filled with natural catastrophes, wars, pestilences and famines, religious deception, apostasy and persecution. As Christ draws His thoughts on the second coming to a close He ends with two very important points; the certainty of that day; and how to prepare for that day. These will be our two points.

OUTLINE The witness of God The witness of evidences The witness of the Spirit INTRODUCTION By what authority do we accept the Bible to be the word of God? This is the question that the 1689 is addressing in Ch. 1 para. 4-5. This may sound like a strange question to you but it is an important one. At the time of the Reformation a major part of the disagreement between the Protestants and the Catholics was over authority. The Reformers were saying that the Scripture alone is our authority as it is the Word of God; the Catholic Church would respond by saying, but the church came before the Bible, gave birth to the Bible and decided which books should be in the Bible, so the Church has an important authority that cannot be denied. A famous quote from Augustine was often used by the Catholics in this discussion, ‘For my part, I should not believe the gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.’ You can feel the dilemma, if you admit that the Catholic church has the authority to decide which books are the word of God and can determine what the Canon of scripture is, then you must accept the authority of the church when it comes to interpreting the word as well and submit to its teachings and not those who are outside the church like Luther and Calvin. The point of these paragraphs was to show that the Bible is not the word of God because the church says so but because God says so. These two paragraphs take up the two types of ways in which the Bible establishes its authority. Paragraph 4 has to do with the Bible’s testimony of itself, its objective authority. Paragraph 5 has more to...

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OUTLINE The response of creation The response of the unbeliever The response of the believer INTRODUCTION We move from the third worst judgement in history, the fall of Jerusalem described for us in v20-24; to the second worst judgement in history, the Second Coming of Christ Luke 21:25-28. When we come to the cross we will come to the worst judgement in human history. How can the cross, where only one man was judged for sin, be worse than the end of human history where every sinner who has not trusted in Christ will be cast into eternal damnation? A million universes of sinners receiving what their sins deserve are nothing in comparison to the God-man, our Creator, who is infinitely worthy of praise suffering on the cross for our sins. We who know and love God count it a greater horror that God should take my sins and be punished for them than that worthy sinners be judged. But for those who do not love God the second coming of Christ will indeed be the worst day in human history. Last week things got heavy as we looked at the fall of Jerusalem, well today we must continue looking at this difficult theme of judgement as we consider Jesus talking about His second coming. The portion we are looking at is known as the Olivet discourse. Mark 13 and Matthew 24 are the parallel accounts of Jesus teaching here. You will remember that the disciples had been bragging about the temple which prompted Jesus to foretell its destruction. The disciples assuming Jesus was describing the end of the ages asked questions about when the temple would be destroyed and when the end of the age would be. Matt. 24:3, ‘As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples...

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