No One Can Take
Pastor Marq Toombs • January 24, 2021
Sermon Overview
JOHN 10:11–21
In this sermon we see how the love of God is displayed in the Father giving the Son. Our conceptions of God the Father can make the mistake of thinking he is cold and deals with us in anger. But Jesus teaches us that the Father's heart is love and grace towards sinners.
Sermon Transcript
Grace and peace be with you from the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's wonderful to be with you again this Lord's day, and before we get into the sermon I just wanna take a moment to soak it all in. Not my standing in front of you, but just being able to see your faces and so thankful that you're able to come out today. I know it's challenging for everyone, and we're thankful for the times that we do get to see each other and spend a little bit of time together, and so happy to see you this Lord's day and hope that it's a blessing to you to be here with each other in the presence of Christ.
When I was seven years old, my brother and I went to the movies and we saw a very special movie, we saw an American space opera. That movie transported us to a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. And I can still remember the thrill I felt the first time I heard these words from my favorite character in the series. "If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine." And I can remember how I felt a few moments later, the first time I watched my favorite character, smile, pull up his sword, close his eyes and give up his life for his friends.
It was the first time in my life that I experienced what I later learned is the cycle of grief, because right after that happened, I felt sorrow, anger, confusion. I thought, surely that didn't just happen, it has to be some kind of trick.
That story changed me. I felt the force and somehow I knew that I was destined to become a desert prophet, like Obi-Wan Kenobi. And until I reach that goal, serving as a suburban pastor is the next best thing.
Well, whether it's Ben Kenobi or some other hero, there is something about the stories of one person voluntarily laying down their life for the sake of others that grabs our attention and fires our imagination and stirs our hearts. And not just ours. According to Jesus, this is the very kind of thing that happens to God the Father when He looks upon Jesus. I draw your attention to verse 17, where Jesus says, "For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life and I take it up again."
A couple of weeks ago we heard Jesus introduce this theme of His relationship with the Father, where He talked about how the Father loved the world and sent his only begotten Son into the world on mission to save the world. And then last week we heard Jesus say that he came down from heaven not to do his own thing, not to do his own will, but to do the will of the Father who sent him. And now today we hear Jesus say that the Father loves him because he does his Father's will.
The Father and the Son already loved each other in eternity past. Jesus isn't saying, the Father didn't love me until he saw me going on this mission, and when he sees that I'm gonna lay down my life, that's when he decides to love me. No, what's actually happening here is what we might say in human terms is that the Father is looking at his Son and he's feeling a great sense of pride and joy in his son. When the Father sees the Son fulfilling his mission and his purpose in life, doing what he was sent into the world to do, his heart swells with pride, and his love for His Son is deepened and increased.
In this story, the Father was glad to see his Son carrying out their plans and fulfilling their mission to save the world through self-giving love and sacrificial life. So what's happening here is that the Father is looking upon the Son, and then he looks around heaven, and he draws attention to his Son, and everyone in heaven and earth and the Father says, that's my Son, that-a-boy! Keep doing it. And he cheers him on.
The Book of Proverbs says that, "A wise son makes a glad father." And that's exactly what you see happening in the relationship with the Father and the Son. It's the same kind of thing you see with your children. You love them so deeply, and when you see them doing good things and accomplishing their purpose in life, or striving to do that, you feel so proud of them and you're so happy that they're doing that. The Father feels the same way about Jesus.
Well, we have been looking at this series, No One Can, and you might be wondering why in the world did we begin a new year in the midst of a pandemic with something so positive as No One Can?! It feels like a downer, doesn't it? Like we've turned the corner to the new year and we just wanted to remind you of how miserable and weak and what failures you are, right? And we're all in that together.
We are in this together, No One Can.
Why are we doing this? Well, we're doing it because we actually want to highlight the power and the glory of the love and grace of God, and there's no better way to us, in our minds, to do that than to show just what we need from him, just how desperate our need of God is. And so, by using the language of Jesus, no one can, then we can go and say we can't, but God can. And then highlight that. And that's what I wanna do for you today as we look at verse 18.
A lot of other things we read in the passage of Scripture, beautiful concepts about the shepherd and sheep and all of those things, but I want to draw your attention to two parts of this teaching of Jesus. One is where Jesus says, "No one takes my life from me." And the other is, "I lay it down of my own accord." "No one takes my life from me, "but I lay it down of my own accord." And we'll look at these two things.
All throughout the gospels, we see people threatening Jesus' life, threatening to throw him over a cliff, to bury Him under a pile of rocks, to drag Him to court, take his life in some way. And why do they want to do this? What is it about Jesus that they find so scandalous and offensive? Well, it's not like Jesus was taunting people, it's not like He was daring people to come and take His life, it's not like he had a T-shirt that said, "Come and take it!" No, Jesus was doing the good works that God sent Him to do. And the Jews told him when he asked, you know, What's your problem? Why are you guys coming for me? What do you want? They said, well, it's not for any of the good works you're doing. So they acknowledged they were good works. They say, It's because you are a mere man and you make yourself out to be God, and we're just not gonna tolerate that.
You have to admire something about their conviction and their passion. I mean, they're misguided and they don't have all of their systematic theology down pat, but to the degree that they do, they think, Hey, Jesus is dangerous. He's blaspheming. He is making himself out to be God and we can clearly see that he's only a man. We even know who his parents are and his siblings. And so you see what's happening to them is what often happens to us. They're very zealous for the things of God, but their zeal outpaces and outstrips their knowledge of God. They don't know everything, and they certainly don't know as much as they ought to know, and they don't know all the details about Jesus's life.
So here Jesus comes, God in the flesh, and all they can see is the humanity of Jesus, but not the deity of Jesus. And so they try to go after him, they seek to arrest him on and off for three years. This goes on for three years and we might ask, well, why didn't they just grab Him? I mean, there's more of them than there were of Jesus and His disciples. And sometimes they said, No, we're not gonna do it because of the politics of the situation, or we're not gonna do it because of the optics and the way it will appear, or we're not gonna do it because we fear the crowds. But John tells us that the overarching reason they never grabbed Jesus and went through with their plans to kill Him is because his hour had not yet come. That's why no one laid a hand on him, His hour had not yet come. So no matter how much they wanted to arrest him or kill him, they were not able to do it on their own schedule or their own timeframe, according to their own plans and will, they had to wait, but they didn't even know they were waiting.
What they didn't know is what we learned in the story — that Jesus was in charge of his own life and destiny. Until his hour came — until he decided this is the right time, this is the right place, they were only ever able to threaten His life, but they could never ever take his life away from him. That had to have given Jesus an incredible sense of confidence and assurance in life. And he maintained that until it reaches a point when the hour finally came.
And if you want to see this with your own eyes it's in John 12:27 and following. The hour finally came, and when the hour came, this was Jesus' response, "Now my soul is troubled And what shall I say? -- Father deliver me from this hour. No, for this purpose, I've come to this hour." What does He say instead? "Father glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and I will glorify it again." And to put that in Texan, he's saying, My Son, it's all good, you got this. And empowered and emboldened by His Father's thunderous voice, Jesus said, "When I'm lifted up from the earth, "I will draw all people to myself." And John's editorial comment is that Jesus said this to show by what kind of death He was going to die. It was the death of crucifixion, the death of crucifixion.
So no wonder his soul was troubled. No wonder when he finally got to that hour he felt disturbed, not only because of the emotional and the physical trauma of the cross, but also because of the spiritual and relational trial that would come to him through the cross. This — in Jesus' life — is where the rubber meets the road. This is the hour for which he was born, the Lamb who was slain from before the foundation of the world is about to be slain in the world and by the world and for the world upon the cross.
And so what's happening here is that everything that Jesus ever knew, everything that Jesus ever experienced is going to be tested to the max. When his hour finally came, what does he do? He prays, and then he enters the fray of sin and darkness, he enters the jaws of the dragon, he enters into death, even the darkness of exile as the Father turns away the light of his face from him. That is why his soul was troubled.
It takes a little imagination to hear Jesus praying and crying for the Father's help throughout the course of His life, but especially throughout the course of the last few days of His life, during His arrest, his beatings, his crucifixion, and his death. You can imagine Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, face down in the cool dark under the grove of trees, crying out to God, praying the psalms, certainly praying more than "Not my will, but your will be done". Around that prayer were other prayers like this one from Psalm 31,
"I hear the whispering of many,
terror on every side,
as they schemed together against me
as they plot to take my life.
But I trust in you O Lord,
I say, you are my God.
My times are in your hand,
rescue me from the hand of my enemies
and from my persecutors.
Make your face shine on your servant,
save me in your steadfast love."
Jesus knew people were plotting to take his life, but he insisted that no one could take his life — and yet, and yet, how does the story unfold?
Judas betrayed Him, soldiers arrested Him, followers abandoned Him, Annas questioned Him, Peter denied Him, Caiaphas delivered Him, Pilate questioned Him, soldiers flogged Him, shamed Him, slapped Him, punched Him, Pilate delivered Him, crowds mocked him, soldiers pierced Him, and the Father forsook Him.
As the Spirit spoke through Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah 53,
"He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
yet He did not open His mouth.
Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
like a sheep that is before its shearers and silent,
so He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
He was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people
although He had done no violence
and there was no deceit in His mouth."
In the end, Jesus was taken away by men, but they did not take Jesus's life away from him. He laid down his life and gave it to his Father on the cross. He bowed his head and gave up his spirit. Jesus laid down his life at the time and in the place ordained by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Saint Augustine said, in reflecting on this event, "The devil jumped for joy when Christ died, and by the very death of Christ, the devil was overcome. He took as it were the bait in the mousetrap. The Lord's cross was the devil's mousetrap. The bait which caught him was the death of the Lord."
As I understand it, some of you have mice problems in your house. You post this on social media, so it's free game, and I will spare the names of those who are struggling with this, but I recommend that you might, I don't know, put a Cross in your attic or your garage and perhaps it will have some kind of effect on the mice. Now you get Augustine's point, don't you? That the very instrument that the devil thought he could use to overcome Jesus was the instrument that God in Christ used to overthrow the devil.
Jesus says, "I lay down my life of my own accord." It's so easy for us to take this for granted. It's so easy for us to assume that, of course, everyone knows this, whether they believe it or not, they know this is what Jesus was trying to do. It's so easy for us to assume that this is basic information and that it's acknowledged by everyone. But the fact of the matter is that there are some professing Christians and many critics of the Christian faith who have been sleeping on the glory of this truth, and they have overlooked the power of the gospel at precisely this point. Jesus laid down his life of his own accord literally means that he laid down his life from within himself, from within himself, of his own free will.
And so long as we know that Jesus died on the cross, we might ask, Well, why does it matter if we acknowledge this detail that he freely laid down his life for us at the cross? Why is that word freely or of himself or voluntarily so important for us? Well, I'm glad you asked because I would like to spend a couple of minutes talking about that.
Here's why it matters. It matters because without Jesus's own desire, and without His own decision to lay down His life at the cross, we could end up with a very different kind of gospel story — which would not be any kind of gospel at all. In other words, if Jesus went to the cross kicking and screaming against his will, we're gonna end up with a very different picture of who the Father is.
It matters because Jesus' own desire and his own decision to lay down his own life gives us a clear picture of what the gospel is, and without that part of the story, we are left with a story in which the Father could be open to charges of cosmic child abuse. And there is a growing number of people who accuse God the Father of that very thing. Why? I believe it's in part because they're missing this very important detail that Jesus did not go to the cross kicking and screaming against his will. He went to the cross voluntarily, freely, giving Himself up for us.
Here's why it matters, two reasons it matters concerning God the Father. If the Father sent Jesus on a mission that required Jesus to suffer and die, and if Jesus was against that mission and resisted it, but the Father forced him to suffer and die anyway against his will, then the Father would rightly be charged with abuse and abandonment of his Son.
Another way to think of it. If the Father sent Jesus on a mission to the world out of some sort of deep-seated anger and rage that compelled him to take it out on someone, but it just happened to be Jesus that the Father took it out on because Jesus is the one who stepped in and interfered and performed an intervention on our behalf. If that's the way it went down and Jesus absorbed all of the Father's rage and anger and absorb those blows for us, then the Father would be rightly charged with coercive and capricious behavior. Why? Because it would show division and conflict between the Father and the Son. And my friends, that is not the gospel. Jesus does not go to the Father to convince him to get off your back and leave you alone. The Father does not send Jesus into the world to do something that Jesus doesn't want to do.
As we have already noted many many times in this series alone, not counting all of the other things that we try to preach and write and share with you, the Father and the Son are on the same page, they're on the same team and they're on the same mission. And what is the mission? It is for the life of the world. They're working together to save sinners from death.
So what motivated the Father and the Son to go on this redemptive mission in the first place? Was it anger? Were they motivated by rage? Was there some kind of vindictive spirit? Was there some need for retribution? Is that what drove them to draw near to the world that they created? No, the Father was motivated by his love for the Son, and he was motivated by his love for the world. He was motivated by his love for you. Jesus the Son was motivated by his love for the Father, and his love for the world, and his love for you. The Father and the Son were motivated by love not by vengeance, not by wrath, to go on a rescue mission to save the world.
God is love. God is love. And I know to some people that is cliche, and to other people that is just soft teaching, but it's the truth of the gospel. The Apostle John puts it this way, "In love, the Father sent His Son to save the world "so that we might live through Him." It was love that moved the Father and the Son to draw near.
Well, sadly, some folks in Christian traditions including our Reformed tradition, give off the vibe that the Father had some sort of pent up rage inside of him that he needed to pour out. He needed to get it off of his chest. He needed to work it out because he had held in this frustration, and he happened to vent his anger towards the world on his Son. Some pastors have given that impression, and they've given the impression that after he unleashed his rage, and he got it off of his chest, well, he felt a bit of relief. He felt much better about himself and he felt a little better about the world. That is not the good news. And if we have ever given the impression that that is part of the good news, God help us to repent, because that is not the good news of the gospel. That sort of thing makes it look like the Father treated Jesus like a whipping boy. And it leaves a very bad impression that the Father is mean, and hateful, coercive, vindictive, abusive. And that is not a picture of the Father, that is not what the gospel reveals to us.
What the gospel reveals to us is that the Father loves you, that Jesus is on your side, that the Spirit is for you, and that God is relentless in His pursuit of you. That's what the gospel tells us.
The good news is that the mutual love of the Father and the Son fueled their mission for the life of the world. Jesus laid down His life and no one took it from Him.
C. S. Lewis picked up on this theme in his children's story, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" where C. S. Lewis explains why the voluntary death of Christ is so powerful and effective. And for those of you who might not know the story let me give you a quick synopsis. Aslan is powerful, he is the King of kings in Narnia. No one could take his life, but in one scene he lays it down of his own accord. He lays it down obediently to the Eternal Will of the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. And he lays it down sacrificially in place of his friend. And he lays it down freely and willingly for the life of Narnia. And when he takes up his life again, he runs into a couple of children who witnessed the whole thing and they're astounded and they ask, "How in the world are you back from the dead? How did you overcome your death?" And this is what Aslan said to the children,
"Though the witch knew the deep magic, there is a magic deeper still which she did not know. Her knowledge goes back only to the dawn of time, but if she could have looked a little further back into the stillness and the darkness before time dawned, she would have read a different incantation. She would have known that when a willing victim who has committed no treachery was killed in a trader's stead, the table would crack and death itself would start working backwards.”
C. S. Lewis understood that the Lord Jesus Christ was a victim, not a victim of circumstance, not a victim of the will of man, not a victim of anyone's will. He was a willing victim, and the deeper magic that drove him was the magic of Love. The deeper magic at work in the gospel is love, self-giving love, eternal and reciprocal love, between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. A love that is embodied in Jesus Christ, God made flesh, the deeper magic made flesh for the life of the world.
So Jesus laid down His life voluntarily of His own accord, freely of His own free will. And I want to emphasize for you and I cannot emphasize to you enough why this is so important. The psalmist tells us, and imagine Jesus praying this — Psalm 54,
"Behold God is my helper,
the Lord is the upholder of my life.
He will return the evil to my enemies
and your faithfulness put an end to them.
With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you,
I will give thanks to your name, O Lord for it is good,
for he has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked and triumph on my enemies."
The significance of Jesus' freewill offering cannot be overstated, it cannot be overstated, it's too often been understated. But to put things in perspective for you and to show you as we prepare to come to the Lord's Table why the voluntary freewill offering of Jesus is so crucial for us, let me frame it for you this way.
In the Old Testament Law God gave very specific instructions about the kinds of sacrifices he required and prohibited and allowed. So in the Old Testament when a worshiper drew near to the altar in the temple, he was required to bring certain gifts and present certain offerings to the Lord. But he was also allowed to bring a freewill offering as well, and that offering was not required by the law, it was allowed by love.
Freewill offerings were presented to the Lord with no strings attached, and for no reason other than gratitude and devotion that was born out of a person's heart and soul for the Lord.
Freewill offerings were, to use our language, offerings that were presented “just because I love you”, just because I love you. It's not your birthday, it's not an anniversary, it's not Christmas, it's just because I love you.
These freewill offerings were also called peace offerings and they were not given to make peace with God. They were given because peace was already established through the sacrifices by the grace and mercy of God. And these peace offerings, these freewill offerings, would end in celebration and communion. The freeway peace offering was the only sacrifice that worshipers were allowed to eat in the presence of God.
And now you know where we're going with this, don't you?
Jesus said he laid down His life freely and voluntarily. What does he mean? He made his life a peace offering for you. He laid down his life for you so that you could enjoy communion with the true and living God, with his Father, with the Son, with the Holy Spirit — and with each other.
And what does he do for us? Throughout the Gospel of John he has been hinting at this and pointing at this saying, You must eat my flesh and drink my blood, and if you don't do this, you have no life in you. And ne invites us to the Table, to draw near to his Altar, to consume his flesh and blood at this Table, in the presence of God, in celebration of the peace that we have with God in him and through him.
So as we draw near to this Table, let us just draw near praying and celebrating the gift that is the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he has done for us. He voluntarily, willingly, freely, laid down His life for you.
