"Open & Secret" Sermon: John 18:19-24

“Open & Secret”
[John 18:19-24]
April 22, 2011 Second Reformed Church

After Jesus and His disciples celebrated the Passover and Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. When He finished, Judas, the betrayer, came, and with him a band of Roman soldiers and officials from the high priests and the Pharisees.

Judas walked up to Jesus and kissed Him – the sign that this was the Man they were coming to arrest, and they bound Jesus took Him to the home of the high priest where Annas was waiting. Peter and John went with Jesus, but Peter waited outside; John went in. This is where our Scripture picks up.

It was after midnight when they began to question Jesus, and it was illegal to hold a trial at night, still they began to browbeat Jesus with questions about His disciples and His teachings. The high priest and his retinue revealed the depths of their corruption, not merely because they were illegally trying Jesus, but because they brought no indictment forward – they brought no witnesses against Jesus (at this time). Their plan was for Jesus to trip up and provide them with evidence that they could convict Him with.

“Who are Your disciples? Where do they work? What are their views on Rome? Do they follow God’s Law? What do You teach? What are Your views on the Scripture?”

They were hoping that Jesus would say something new, something novel, something that went against the received teaching of the Scripture. But Jesus would have none of their games.

“I have spoken openly to the world.” “I don’t teach a secret knowledge or a secret way to God. Everything I have taught has been out in the open – to the world. Not just to My inner circle, not just My disciples, not just the Jews – I have preached to the whole world – to anyone and everyone who would listen, I taught the same things of God, openly.”

“I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.” “I have spoken in the Temple and the synagogues, in front of crowds – in the accepted forums, in the legal venues, where anyone could hear Me, and where everyone knows to go to hear preaching and discussions. I have said nothing in secret. The Truth of God and His Salvation – the Gospel that I preach – is not a secret – there is no secret teaching that one has to learn or a secret knowledge that one has to achieve to get to a higher level with God.”

Paul explained to the Corinthians, “But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God” (II Corinthians 4:2, ESV).

In the early Church, there arose numerous groups of false teachers that we now call Gnostics – from the Greek word for “knowledge.” The thing that these false teachers all had in common was that they taught that Jesus and His Gospel were good for the common people, but, if you really wanted to be spiritual, if you really want to ascend to the heavens, there is a secret knowledge – a secret interpretation, that you need to be able to discern.

Paul told the Corinthians that this is nonsense: the Gospel of Jesus Christ is straightforward, and it is the same for every person, and it is proclaimed openly in every place. The Gospel is the same for every person – no secret knowledge or learning is necessary to receive the Gospel and God’s Salvation. Paul told the Corinthians - this is the Gospel, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scripture, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep” (I Corinthians 15:3-6, ESV). This is the history of a Person – a human being – Who lived in the midst of people who saw Him and knew Him.

True Christianity has no secret message: the message is open and proclaimed outright: The Savior died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture. He was buried. On the third day He was raised from the dead, and He appeared to over five hundred people – most of whom you could still talk with in those days, as they were still alive – eyewitnesses to Jesus and the fact that He rose from the dead.

The Gnostics were not the only ones to teach that a secret knowledge is necessary to become right with God – to know God – to become God, as some false religions argue. The religious teachings of the Masons teach there is a secret knowledge of Jesus which is higher than what the common people receives and which is necessary for true enlightenment. The Jewish Kabbalah is all about a secret knowledge – not just red string bracelets. The Mormons teach there is a secret knowledge – first in their scripture and then in addition to their scripture. In Christian Science – it’s the secret knowledge and the realization that the material world doesn’t exist. Orthodox Jews believe that all of world history is secretly hidden in the Torah for the most enlightened to find. There are levels of enlightenment in Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism.

Isaiah prophesied of the Coming Savior, “I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I the Lord speak the truth; I declare what is right” (Isaiah 45:19, ESV).

The Message of Jesus was open and clear to all those who had ears, “I am the Messiah. I am the Savior. I am the Christ. I am the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Son of Man. I am the Son of God. I and the Father are the Same One God. I am the God Who revealed Himself to Moses.”

Jesus’ Message has never been secret or hidden – it’s right out there for anyone to hear. And still, in this country, people of all religions are willing to say, “I don’t believe in Jesus as God the Savior, but I believe He was a good teacher.” Really? If one of the teachers in our public schools system told our children, “I want you to understand that I am god and the only hope for you and the world is to believe in me and follow me as your savior.” Would we really say, “Oh, isn’t he or she a good teacher ”

C. S. Lewis, in a famous quote, said that the one thing that is perfectly clear from the Gospels is that we cannot merely say Jesus was a good Teacher – that option is not open to us. If someone says that he is god, the only savior – that is not a good teacher – that person is either a liar, or a lunatic, or he is exactly who he says he is – God. There is no other choice.

The Message of Jesus was open and clear to all those who had ears, “I am the Messiah. I am the Savior. I am the Christ. I am the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Son of Man. I am the Son of God. I and the Father are the Same One God. I am the God Who revealed Himself to Moses.” There were and there are and there will forever be only three choices – three responses to Jesus’ claims: He’s a lair. He’s a lunatic. Or, yes, Jesus is God the Savior, just as He said He was.

In the first century, there were over five hundred eye-witnesses to Jesus’ Resurrection – and don’t you doubt for a moment that they were questioned and questioned and questioned. We have, in the Bible, the written testimony of a few of those who knew Jesus and testified to being eyewitnesses to His Resurrection from the dead.

If what Jesus said is open and clear now, it was even more so then. Jesus was there, in the flesh, speaking for Himself, testifying to Himself, day after day, for three years making the same claims about Himself. And the high priests and the Pharisees heard Him and knew His testimony – the claims He was making.

So Jesus said, “Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.” “Annas, why are you asking me what I teach and what I believe about Myself. Are you denying that there are hundreds of witnesses who could testify to what I said? Are you denying that you, yourself, have heard Me on many occasions, and you know exactly what I teach and preach? Are you really pretending to be ignorant, high priest of God, of what all the common people of Israel know?”

Whack “Is that how You talk to the high priest? ”

“If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”

They couldn’t say He was wrong. That hated what He was saying. But they couldn’t say He was wrong. They didn’t have any credible witnesses against Him. But they wouldn’t admit that He was right – that He was telling the truth. So, in frustration, they hit Him. And they tied Him up and sent Him away.

Dan Brown (and friends) with his The Da Vinci Code (and others) write impoverished imaginary historical novels that pretend to expose the secrets of Jesus and the Gospel. The books open by saying they are novels but everything in them is historically accurate. And we assume that they would never have any reason to lie.

Surely, the Pharisee and the high priests would never have a reason to lie about Jesus. They wouldn’t condemn Him in an illegal night trial and blackmail a Roman governor to have Jesus put to death...

Brothers and sisters, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a secret. There are no mystical rites that we have to go through to understand it. There is no “higher life” we have to rise to to be “Real Christians.”

The Gospel is that God came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, lived, died for the sins of all those who would ever believe in Him, rose from the dead, and ascended back to His Throne at the Right Hand of the Father.

God came to earth, lived, died for our sins, rose, and ascend back.

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV).

It is not a secret.

Years ago, my friend Tim and I worked in a Christian bookstore, and Billy Graham’s book How to Be Saved had come out. Tim picked up this two hundred or so page book and looked at it, then he looked at me and said, “I don’t think it’s that complicated, Billy.”

Jesus said, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret. Why do you ask me? Ask those who have heard me what I said to them; they know what I said.”

Don’t be confused:

God came to earth in the Person of Jesus Christ – openly, not in secret.

Jesus lived His life – openly, not in secret.

Jesus was taken by a mob, brought before the religious and political leaders, and a great crowd of Israel – openly, not in secret.

And on that first Good Friday, they crucified Him, and He died – openly, not in secret.

In a few minutes we will receive the Lord’s Supper, and we will remember the life and death of Jesus on that first Good Friday. But we will also meet with Jesus now – openly – in the bread and the cup, as He ministers to us, strengthening us with His Grace. And we will also find our hope renewed, believing that Jesus has risen from the dead and ascended back to the Father, and the day is soon coming when He will return in glory to bring us into His Glorious Kingdom – openly, and not in secret.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for coming to earth and living a public and open life, calling all people to receive You as God and Savior. As we consider that our sin sent You to the cross, may our seeing Your Image in Your Word cause us to repent and follow after You all the more diligently. And may we be open and tell others about what You have done for all those who will believe. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.