Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] We've been going through the book of John chapter by chapter, verse by verse. And so today we'll be in chapter seven, as you can see. And if you haven't joined, if you haven't been with us the last few weeks, even where you'll find us today is the tail end, or the mid portion, I should say. And the next week we'll look at the tail end of chapter seven. And as we've walked through this book, we have seen Jesus interacting with lots of people. Some people who love him and listen to him. And some people who absolutely hate him and want to kill him. And so today we're going to look at verses 25 through 36. I've entitled it divided over the divine part one. So be sure to come next week. So you can hear part two of part two of this on the backside of your outline. Usually there's an outline of the message. Today there's lots of blank lines, as you can see. Some of you are nervous as you see that because you're like, he could do whatever he wants right now. But this week and next week we'll just have lines for you to fill out. Missy Day usually makes the bulletins for us, and she's in Uganda. So you'll have those lines for you. But I'll just tell you what you'll be filling out. So there'll be three main points and then two sub points for each of those. So as you look at that, you'll just know as we walk through this, we'll look at three main points and they'll be on the screen as well. And then there'll be two sub points. And then as you look at verses 25 through 36, we'll read in just a moment, we'll kind of bounce around through the passage a little bit. Just to help us have one cohesive flow of idea or the thought through this passage. The big idea here that we'll see in just a moment is this. It's on the screen. No matter how clearly Jesus communicates his identity and proves his power to the people listening, the hearts of mankind will always struggle to submit to his lordship. Some will, as we'll see today, and we know in the world that we live in. Some will reject him, yet others will receive him. You know that to be true from your life as well. There is a struggle because the reality is we're born prideful people, aren't. We? Struggle to submit to others. You don't have to look very far to see, even in the midst of the lives of children that there's a struggle for submission, and the same is true in our lives, in submitting to the Lord. Yes, first at salvation and recognizing that I need him. But also, if you've walked with Jesus for any length of time, you know there's a struggle, isn't there? There's a struggle daily to submit to his lordship. As we look through this passage, one of the things we're going to see is there's a real tension in the hearts of people. I brought a rope here because how many of you have played tug of war before?
[00:02:46] Some of you have. If you haven't. I remember when I was a kid, one time we went to the zoo, we tried to play tug of war with an elephant. Any of you done that before? Who do you think won? Elephant.
[00:02:57] There's a reality for us that our hearts are kind of like this rope where we're pulled back and forth even before our relationship with Jesus. We might get information about Jesus. And this side we'll say over here is the lies about faith, about Jesus, the misconceptions. And this side we'll just say is the truth. And there's a reality that even in our life today, there's a. I don't know if I should believe in Jesus. And then I think, well, what they said or what the Bible says makes sense there. Or even as a Christian, I know that what Jesus says is good and is true and is right and I should obey him, but my flesh wants me to do this. Do you know what I'm talking about? There's a daily struggle that we interact with even as followers of Jesus. And so today, what we're going to see in this passage is there's a struggle for the hearts of people listening in. Some people listen to what Jesus has to say, and we'll see that at the end. But many reject him or sit in confusion about what to believe in regards to Jesus. Let's read the passage together, and we'll see this as we walk through our. Look at verse 25. It starts off, jesus is, if you look at the context of what's going on, jesus is in the temple. There's a major festival or feast going on called the feast of booths. And jesus has shown up in the middle of the feast, and he walks into the temple, and he begins to teach people, some of whom don't know who he is. He just sat down and he started teaching. And it says earlier on in this passage that they listened to him and they marveled at what he had to say. And then the jewish leaders stepped in. We talked about this a couple weeks ago. Stepped in and began to have a conversation with him. Regarding if he truly is one, the Christ. And also if they were actually honoring God. And what they did as the jewish leaders.
[00:04:44] Verse 25. Jesus has been interacting with this group of people. Some of whom were amazed by him. Some of whom already are. As the leaders are rejecting him and his person and his deity. Look what it says. Verse 25. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said.
[00:05:00] Is not this the man who they seek to kill? Remember, some people want to kill jesus. The leaders want to kill jesus. Look what it says. Verse 26. And here he is speaking openly. And they say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities is the religious leaders, the Pharisees, sadducees? Could it be that they really know that he is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. So jesus proclaimed as he taught in the temple, you know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true. And him you do not know I know him, for I have come from him, and he sent me. So they were asked. So they were seeking to arrest him. But no one laid a hand on him. Because his hour had not yet come.
[00:05:47] Yet many people believed in him.
[00:05:50] They said, when the Christ appears. Will he do more signs than this man has done? The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him. And the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Then Jesus said, I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.
[00:06:07] You will seek me. And you will not find me. Where I am, you cannot come.
[00:06:12] The Jews said to one another. Where does this man intend to go that we can't find? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks. And teach the Greeks? What does he mean? You will seek me, and you will not find me. And where I am going, you cannot come. Well, Lord Jesus, thank you for the time that we're able to spend here this morning. Opening your word, the privilege of having your word in front of us.
[00:06:37] We can be encouraged by that. We can be challenged by that. We can see your heart. And even we can see the true story of history in your life here on earth. And what you did and what you said to people that struggled to believe. That you are the Christ, that you are God.
[00:06:55] And so this morning, if there is any here today struggling with that same question. Is he worth believing in? Is he truly the only one that can save me? Lord, today, that you would show us clearly that, yes, you are the only one.
[00:07:11] And for those of us here today, yes, we believe that, Lord, that daily we would believe that you are the best choice, that you are the one who deserves our full attention.
[00:07:21] The struggle in our hearts, Lord, that we would be pulled to the side of truth, not pulled to the side of deception and lies, and that our life would display that in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:07:33] The first big point here that you can write down is this, and it's on the screen. The controversy around, or the confusion, I should say, around Christ's identity. Really what we see is there's confusion, there's controversy, there's conflict, the context of what's going on here, the people. And you have to write all of this in, by the way. You don't just write in those simple underlined words. I know. It's a lot more. The people are aware that the leaders want a man who repeatedly broke the Sabbath by healing people and saying he was sent by God dead. The people know that there's some guy out there. The opposition towards Jesus was getting out. But unlike today, they didn't have newspapers and thousands of people that read them that saw Jesus picture. They didn't have social media. They didn't have Fox News and CNN that put Jesus face up on all the screens everywhere. So when they saw Jesus teaching in the temple, they were like, oh, that's that guy. I saw him last night on the news. That wasn't the case. I know this is hard to wrap our brains around because we always just, we hear about somebody, what do we do? We look online, say, what does this person look like? But for them, they couldn't do that. So just step into their world for just a moment. They didn't know. They just knew that there was a guy that was out there. Some of the people may have seen Jesus, many may had not, because these were Jews coming from all over Israel to Jerusalem. This guy shows up in the temple and he starts to teach, and they're saying, wow, this guy knows what he's talking about. This guy. He makes sense in what he is saying. Now, if you look at the passages just before verse 25, we see the religious leaders step in. They begin to have some altercation with Jesus and discussion about if he's obeying the law and if they're obeying the law.
[00:09:13] And here we see that people are truly marveling at what is going on with Jesus, what he's teaching Jesus taught some more. And they began to realize this man, that they'd heard about healing people on the Sabbath, and that they heard that this guy is having some issues with the leaders.
[00:09:30] That's actually this guy in front of us. We've never known what he looked like. We've never actually heard this person before, but it's actually this guy. And now we see instep verse steps in verse 25. And some of the people now who realize this, look at verse 25.
[00:09:43] People from Jerusalem, they said, this is the guy. This is the one they've been trying to kill. Wait a minute. That doesn't make any sense. Look at verse 26. They say, well, he's speaking openly here. But if the jewish leaders, who, by the way, have authority to call the temple guard and have somebody arrested, if they're standing right there and he's teaching right here, they want him dead. You see where I'm going? The people are wondering, why don't they just arrest him?
[00:10:09] Why not? I mean, you guys have been talking about arresting this guy or killing this guy. He's right here. Why don't you take him? And then look what they say. They say, well, maybe.
[00:10:20] Maybe they think it's actually. It's actually Jesus. Maybe they know that he really is the Christ, but they have some issue with that. Look what it says. Verse 26 and following. But here he is speaking openly and they say nothing. Can it be that the authorities really know that it's the Christ? Maybe that's why they're not arresting him. But verse 27. But we know where this man comes from. And when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from at first glance, like, what are you talking about? Why even say this? And I think it's important for us to understand this. And at the tail end of the message, we'll see another reason for us today, why this is important for us to understand.
[00:10:59] They see this man Jesus, and they think to themselves, all the things we've heard about the messiah coming says he's just going to appear out of nowhere. He's just going to step in as an adult and begin to teach. But where they get that from is Micah, chapter five, verse two. I'll read it. I don't think it's on the screen. Look what it says. You know this passage? But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me, one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient of days. So it doesn't say man, this guy, he's going to be born as a baby. We're going to know his mom and his dad. He's going to be a carpenter. They don't think about that when they're thinking Messiah. They're thinking, someone. He's going to come here from Bethlehem. And then this guy's from Galilee, though, so this doesn't make any sense also. Malachi. Three one. I will send my messenger who will prepare the way for me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come into his temple. So they're thinking, okay, so we know that when the messiah comes, he's just probably going to appear in the temple and that's going to be the Messiah. But they're thinking, wait a minute, this doesn't make sense still, because we know this man, Jesus, are you with me? So it doesn't make sense to them because of their interpretation of the scriptures, their perspective of the passages that I just read. It doesn't sound like the messiah will be the son of a carpenter and then baptized by John the Baptist and begin his ministry. There are plenty of well meaning jews who truly want to find the Messiah. They've been thinking about it. They've been teaching about it. They have been hoping for it, probably like we hope for Jesus second coming. Waiting, when is the day going to come? Is it him? Is it him? Is it him? They're wondering, when is this going to happen? And like many of us, even here today and many other christians around the world, we have different perspectives of what it's going to be like when Jesus comes again, don't we? There's a term, the study of end times or the theology, the understanding around end times called eschatology. Can you say eschatology?
[00:12:56] Some of you are like, oh, goodness, where are we going? But here's my point. We read the same scripture in front of us. We have all sorts of different views. Some ask the question, will there be a rapture? Will Jesus come in visible form and begin to take the church with him? When will the tribulation fall in with this? Will the tribulation come? And then Jesus take his people? Is the tribulation a physical event or a spiritual event? Knowing the future? You know, this is hard. Even when we have passages written about it by God himself, you know that even though it's here, there's still all sorts of opinions about it. And here's similarly to where they're sitting in this situation. In this situation, we find different opinions. And now they're saying, okay, we want the messiah, but is this really him? Because that's not how I read the scripture, but maybe that's how you read it.
[00:13:47] Jesus. Now, in verse, the following verses, point a, he's going to weigh in about his identity, more specifically about his origin and about his destination. Because those two pieces of Jesus are key to understanding his true identity.
[00:14:04] It's also important, before we move on to point a, to consider this. This wasn't just confusion, friends, about Jesus.
[00:14:11] This wasn't just confusion about Christ, but there was actually major conflict over Christ. They wanted him dead because of what he was saying, because of what he was speaking. And bringing this to today as a preacher. One preacher, his name's Adrian Rogers, he said this. The problem with preachers today is that nobody wants to kill them.
[00:14:32] Another preacher today said, we need more people who will preach like Jesus, not seeking to make people happy with what is said, but only preaching repentance towards Christ and the preaching of Christ, rather than seeking to appease the people.
[00:14:50] So let's look at point a. Jesus is going to speak to his origin and I to his destination. The first point a, the origin of Jesus must be understood for salvation. He breaks this down for them in great clarity, verses 28 and 29. And then verse 33 speaks about it as well. We'll take those in order. So where some of your bibles might say, therefore, verse 28. Look with me. Jesus proclaimed. And really the word is he cried out. He got everybody's attention as he taught in the temple. He says, you know me and you know where I'm coming from. That is, everyone knows him as Jesus of Galilee.
[00:15:25] But now what jesus does, right, he switches from the physical to the spiritual. But I have not come of my own accord. And now they're going, wait. What he who sent me is true. That is authentic. He is right. He is good. And him you do not know. So now they're even more confused.
[00:15:46] I know him, for I have come from him and he sent me. So there again we see that Jesus is paralleling. Yes, you had a physical question, and now I'm going to pair it with a spiritual reality. You thought you know where I came from or who I am physically. Yes, I was raised in Galilee, okay, you know my mom and dad, but you don't know all the things about me.
[00:16:07] Later on, we see that Jesus speaking about where his origin is. He says in verse 33, Jesus said to them, I will be with you a little longer than I'm going to him who sent me.
[00:16:16] It's clear here that Jesus. But from what Jesus is saying, you don't actually understand me. You don't know the real me. You think you do, but you don't. Isn't that frustrating when you think you know something and somebody says, you actually have no idea?
[00:16:31] We know in other settings that Jesus has said publicly where who he is as someone sent by God, the lamb of God. John the Baptist spoke about this. We don't know if the people here listening to him are the same people. Maybe not. Maybe some of them.
[00:16:46] The jewish leaders, though, are the same group of people and they still want him dead.
[00:16:52] They still want him dead. We jump over to verse 33. We get the sense that Jesus might be speaking to the guards. If you look later on in the text, it says that the jewish leaders, they sent guards to arrest Jesus. And we read verse 33. And it's like he puts his hand out and says, actually, hold on a minute.
[00:17:07] When Jesus can look at somebody with spears and swords and tell them, stop, you actually have no power here. He has authority. We're going to see that next week as well. Lastly, when Jesus makes the point that those listening don't know him, him who sent me is what he says. He's speaking of their spiritual state.
[00:17:26] The people may know of God the father, but they don't truly know God the father. If they did, they would know that Jesus truly is from God. Now, why is this important today? Why is this important then in our day? If someone thinks that Jesus is a man born naturally of Mary and of Joseph, not of a virgin birth, and that he wasn't sent from heaven, then Jesus could have been. Then Jesus could not have been sinless, and his sacrifice would not be enough to cover your sin and my sin. Jesus being born of a virgin is a key doctrine in the christian faith. Thus, to misunderstand the origin of Jesus is a major barrier in salvation. Because you don't understand the true person of Jesus. He's like. He's just some guy who lived a good life, who died, and people like to follow him. That's not saving faith, friends. Jesus has to be perfect in order for his sacrifice to be enough to pay for your sin and my sin. Amen. So the origin of Jesus must be known. And that's why Jesus leans into that. And then he speaks to the destination of Jesus must be known as well. Verse 34 and 35. And 36. You will seek me and you will not find me where I am. You cannot come again. We see, verse 34, that Jesus is making a truly not so veiled statement about the spiritual state of the people who want him dead. Jesus, obviously, for us, is referring to his ascension to heaven, that they will not be able to enter heaven. Why?
[00:18:52] Because they're rejecting Jesus, friends, that's the greatest sin that anyone could commit.
[00:18:59] Verse 35. The Jews, the jewish leaders most likely are probably not particularly upset that Jesus is going away. You think about that. Jesus is like, I'm going away. They're probably not. Darn. We really wish jesus would stick around. We needed something to do. That's not what they're concerned about. Notice what they're actually upset about. Or they're questioning, where is he going to go? What is he talking about here? They said, is he gonna go through the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks. That's what it says there. What they're talking about here is, is Jesus gonna leave Israel, the country of Israel, and is he gonna go find Jews other places?
[00:19:34] And perhaps could he possibly even be going to those people who were gentiles and converted? Maybe he would go to them and teach. What never crosses their mind is that Jesus would care about the gentiles.
[00:19:47] That's not even on their radar. Let's brief review here. One needs to know who Jesus is for saving faith to occur that he came from heaven, he lived a perfect life. He died for the salvation of repentant sinners, and he's currently alive today having conquered death.
[00:20:05] One preacher says, this saving faith does not happen. It does not take place in an intellectual vacuum. It's not just, I like the idea of heaven, and I want to go there, and that's good enough. I need to know something. Which is why even like apologetics, being able to explain and understand and articulate why you believe what you believe is so valuable in our faith, Jesus is the controversial Christ.
[00:20:31] He was and is the most controversial person in history. And he did more to divide a crowd than he did to unite people. We're kind of setting ourselves up for .2 here. The same sun that melts the snow, hardens the clay.
[00:20:48] The same sun. But different hearts respond in different ways. Jesus was very divisive because he spoke truth, because he cared about truth. Yes, he brought people together. Yes, he cared about unity. We look at what jesus did over and over again. We see people's hearts pulled in one direction or another, pulled towards the flesh, pulled towards their pride, and pulled towards the truth over and over again. And many of them, they just like peace and quiet.
[00:21:20] But then Jesus steps onto the scene and says, no, that's not good for your heart because you're sitting in error. If you think that it's okay to sit there, there's a phrase, better to be united by truth than to be united in error. Jesus believed this, thus he taught truth. Now some will do whatever it takes to keep controversy at bay. How many of you like controversy?
[00:21:44] A couple of you like not. Most of us don't. So we find ways to get it out of our life, even if it means, in their case, killing the Christ.
[00:21:54] So I point to the mission to silence the messiah, verses 30 and 32. We'll move right through this. The mission to silence the Messiah. They did not like the controversy that was present in their temple. They viewed it as, this is our space. We want to be able to control what happens here. And here comes Jesus pulling at people's hearts. We don't like this guy. So, verse 30. Therefore, as some of your bibles might say, they were seeking to. What can you say? Arrest.
[00:22:23] Arrest him.
[00:22:26] They wanted him gone, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. The Pharisees, verse 32. Heard the crowd muttering. We'll get into this in just a moment. These things about him and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. The desire to kill Jesus was not new, but it was continuing to grow as the gospel of John continues through the book. As you read through the Gospel of John, you'll find more and more opposition to Jesus. Sometimes in our life. We think, if God wants me to do this, it's gonna be smooth sailing, don't we? And if there's some sort of opposition, it must not be God's will. But truly, if Jesus had that view, he'd probably stop his ministry really early on, wouldn't he? Oh, there's opposition. It must not be what the father wants me to do. Not the case. Not the case. Jesus knew that stepping into a place where there is error and showing truth. Would provide all sorts of controversy in the hearts and minds of people. But he knew that was a good thing that needed to happen. But they didn't like this. The religious leaders didn't like this. So they said, we're going to kill him. We're going to find ways to kill him. Now, why? Why did they want to kill him? Look at verse point a on your outline. You could write this down. This desire, this mission was fueled by zeal and jealousy. Both of those together. Some, they saw the work and the words of Jesus, and they said, well, he's teaching people something opposed to what we're used to, that they didn't believe was right. And so in order to preserve their faith and their religion, their zeal. They said, we need to get rid of this guy. But we see something else specifically in this passage.
[00:24:06] That is key to understanding the fuel behind why they wanted to kill Jesus. Look what it says in verse 32. The Pharisees heard the crowd. What?
[00:24:18] Muttering.
[00:24:20] They heard the word there is whispering or conferring secretly with one another. They heard the crowd saying, wait a minute. Could it be Jesus? Could this actually be the christ? Is what he's saying. That actually makes sense. Maybe we should start listening to him. They saw that for a long time. The people's hearts were sitting in their camp. But then Jesus steps onto the scene and they're saying, people's hearts and minds. They're starting to be pulled in another direction. And it's away from us. We don't like this. And the people started talking with each other about this. And they said, this is the jealousy part. We like people where we had them. But then Jesus stepped onto the scene. Is pulling people's attention away from us. One more key point before we look at b that we just can't miss here is this. It's seen at the end of verse 32. Look in your bibles. It might. Yeah, still be on the screen. Look at this. We see the officers, the temple guard. They were sent to arrest Jesus. But look what it says. Who sent them? The chief priests and the Pharisees, most likely. Chief priests and sadducees. Pharisees. These were actually people groups. Who used to argue and bicker all the time. They were not unified before. And then Jesus steps onto the scene. And suddenly they're working together. Have you heard the old proverb that says. The enemy of my enemy is my. Is my friend? That's this. That's this right here. We used to all be enemies. But actually we all hate Jesus, right? We're all in the same. We all hate. All right, let's work together to get rid of Jesus. So now they're working together to find ways to get rid of Jesus. Those who were once divided became united. Because of what. Because what they were divided about was of less significance. Than their mutual hate of Jesus.
[00:26:05] Verse 30. The last portion of it says. Something that's important for us to see here. Is they were restricted. Because it didn't happen. It's actually about six months or so away from Jesus actual arrest. This time of this account here. Six months away from his arrest at this time. It says, it's not time. Look what it says. This was restricted by God's sovereignty, because the hour had not yet come until the time was right, no one could lay a hand on Jesus. There would come a time when Jesus would say that his hour has come, right. He goes to the garden and Peter tries to stand in the way and says, no, we're not going to let this happen. We're not going to let Jesus get arrested. And Jesus says, no, it's time now. For a long time, protecting me, that made sense. But now not the time anymore. Jesus often spoke about this right hour, this right time. That is God's divine timetable, that everything were to happen. And Jesus knew what that was because he was regularly in communication with the father, right? He was checking in with God. What am I supposed to do now? For us? Nothing on earth, friends, can happen apart from God's knowledge and God's permission. Isn't that comforting?
[00:27:16] Nothing in your life or my life, God knows it all. And if it's happening, it's like God's not looking at your life or my life going, I didn't see that coming. I didn't know that was going to happen, or I wish that didn't happen, but I had no strength to change what that was. Now, friends, sometimes that's really encouraging to us, isn't it?
[00:27:36] It's also challenging, because when something devastating happens in our life, especially when someone comes alongside us and says, well, God is sovereign, that's the last thing you want to hear, isn't it? When someone has passed away, when someone has cancer, when someone has medical problems, when something terrible happens. Some of us, we may think, but God is sovereign. And so maybe I want to encourage somebody in that. That's not oftentimes the most encouraging thing. Somebody could hear when they're going through something hard. And if you're going through something hard, reminding yourself that God is sovereign can be a frustrating thought sometimes, because you ask yourself the question, why did God let this happen? If God truly is sovereign, then he should have made this stop because God loves me.
[00:28:23] This is a hard right tension. And some of us, then we can have our minds and our hearts pull towards the maybe God isn't sovereign. Maybe God isn't faithful. Maybe God doesn't love me as much as I thought. And then we have somebody else, or maybe we open the word and we have this polling on this side over here saying, well, no, but God is sovereign and he is loving and he is kind and he cares. Right? But look at my grief. That pulls me back over here. There's this tension that exists again and again, even just around the sovereignty of God, we know that God is good and God is kind, and we know that hard, painful things happen that don't make sense.
[00:29:08] And friends, we know that we live in that tension every day, and God knows that too. Jesus knows that.
[00:29:17] And he promises that he won't abandon us in the midst of that tension between life is hard, and I don't understand it, and I am good and I am kind and I love you.
[00:29:28] And these people here, they're sitting in the midst of a tension. Jesus even knowing this is good and I'm going to go to the cross and this is going to hurt. And it's because I love people. Jesus lived in that tension as well. This hurts and I don't like it, and I know this is needed, and I know the father is good. As he hung on the cross, he experienced the same tension that I'm speaking of now. We see some in the midst of this tension. We know that some actually, many stay to this side over here and say, I'm not going to believe. Because one, his origin, it doesn't make sense. His destination doesn't make sense. What he's saying is confusing. He's messing up my life. And yet, the last portion, verse 31 that we'll look at here .3 on your outline, many people believed, many people let their hearts get pulled to the side of truth and believed in Jesus. This truly is the purpose of why John's writing this gospel. So he's saying, I'm gonna lay out the facts of what Jesus has done so that people may believe. Chapter 20, verse 30. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples. That is, he did all sorts of acts. Why? So that people would know he is God, verse 31. But these are written that you may believe. That's the key word, that Jesus is the Christ, that is the anointed one of God, the son of God, deity in the whole deity in the person of Jesus, that by believing that is believing in him being the messiah that died in your place, that by believing you may have life in his name. That's the intent of the author. And in many interactions that Jesus has had with people, time and time again, we find that many will reject him and many will believe. Over and over we find this. And Jesus doesn't say, well, because many will still reject me, I'm just going to stop because it's not worth my time.
[00:31:21] He says, I know that many will reject me, and still I will go and die because I know many will believe many will move to the side of truth as opposed to sitting to the side of lies, of deception.
[00:31:37] Every person who believes in Jesus is their lord and savior. That is a victory in heaven. Amen.
[00:31:45] Why did these people believe? We'll close with two. The a and b here. Briefly, why do these people believe? Because their hearts and minds were open to the reality of Jesus in at least two ways. Briefly, let's consider those. One, they considered the obvious. They considered the obvious. Look. What'd they say?
[00:32:02] Look at all the things he's done. It's obvious no one else can do what he has done or teach the way he teaches. We don't see anyone else feeding 5000 people with practically nothing. We don't see anyone else teaching and healing people the way that this man is doing this. It's obvious that this person is someone special and worth paying attention to. The obvious. Now, you know this and I know this. The obvious to me isn't always obvious to others, is it? I mean, I can look at the world around us as can many of you look at the world around us and the things that God has made and say, wow, clearly someone created it. It's obvious. And others can look at the same things that we're looking at and say, wow, millions and millions of years and it's obvious today, but we're looking at the same thing. So they consider the obvious about Jesus. But they also considered the odds. We see this clearly laid out. Can anyone else do what he has done? That question is, let's look at the odds, folks. They spoke with clear logic when they asked, when Christ comes. When the Christ. So if this isn't him, when the real Christ comes will he do more signs, more things than this person is doing in front of us today?
[00:33:17] That's a fair question to ask of Jesus, isn't it?
[00:33:20] If jesus isn't the one who deserves all of our attention and all of our worship and all of our time and care and passion. If it's not him, who else?
[00:33:30] Who else? Because you know and I know it certainly shouldn't be ourselves.
[00:33:36] If jesus isn't the messiah, when the messiah comes will he do more miracles than Jesus? Will he teach more insights and authority than jesus did? Will he love more remarkably than Jesus? Will he suffer with more courage than Jesus? Will he atone for more sins than Jesus? Will he raise the dead with more triumph than Jesus? Will he ascend to heaven with greater glory than Jesus? Will he present a greater gospel than Jesus? Will he change more lives than Jesus? Will he free more people from addictions than Jesus? Will he comfort more grief stricken people than jesus has? Will he triumph in more ways than Jesus has? Will he gain more followers than Jesus? And the answer is no.
[00:34:19] None of this is possible by anybody else.
[00:34:23] Jesus deserves our attention. They believed, because they said, I see the tension that exists there. But I'm going to sit with the obvious things in front of me. And the odds. No one else can do what this man is doing. And so he deserves my attention. He deserves my heart. And thus they believe. Now, part two of this, which we will not look at right now. Part two of this. Looking at verses 37 through 52. We'll look at next week and be quite honest.
[00:34:53] The next portion, verse 37 says, on the last day of the feast. So it's like the grand finale of what Jesus is going to say here at the end of the feast. And not to say that this passage that we just read isn't good. But this next passage might be better. So come back next week and hear part two of this. But before we close, I want to give just a clear gospel connection. And then three questions for us to consider. As we process through what we see in this text. First, considering the gospel in this passage, Jesus, friends, lived a perfect life.
[00:35:28] Because he was born of a virgin. And was fully God. Because he lived a perfect life. He is the only one who deserves to be in perfect union with God the father.
[00:35:40] Because he was perfect. He's the only one who can stand in your place. When God judges you for your sin.
[00:35:49] When you believe in his true identity as God. And as your only possible way of being in right relationship with God. He will apply his perfect record to your sinful record.
[00:36:07] The death we deserve is because we deserve death because of our sin. And Jesus, having never sinned, said, I'm going to apply my life to you. Trust in me. Believe. And the tension that they were dealing with then is. Is Jesus good enough? Is Jesus actually the one who can do this work? And the answer is a resounding yes. Yes, he is. So, as you and I consider this. We have to realize I deserve sin. But he died in my place. So that I don't have to. I have to choose you today. Have to choose to put your faith in Jesus today. You don't have tomorrow promised. Don't be divided about the identity of Jesus any longer. Don't seek to silence his call upon your life. As the Pharisees chose to do just then.
[00:37:02] Were their hearts pulled? I'm sure they were. But it was easier just to shove him away. And say, I don't want to deal with that right now. It's too much. Three questions that we consider here. Before we close, let's look at consider something in the text. We see that some in this passage believed Jesus words that he was the messiah, yet some doubted they were divided about Jesus. Here's the question.
[00:37:24] In what area of your life are you doubting Jesus words that he is good, that he is kind, that he is loving, that he is strong, that he is faithful, that he is a strong enough savior.
[00:37:41] In what area are you doubting Jesus?
[00:37:46] And maybe even maybe part b to a. Another part to that question is, how would Jesus answer that question? If we were. If you were to ask Jesus, Jesus, in what way am I doubting you? What might he say? Second question.
[00:38:01] Some people rejected Jesus as Christ because they misinterpreted scripture. Are you possibly so hung up on your way of viewing some passage of scripture that you're ignoring or avoiding other clear commands of Jesus? We see that to be true of the leaders of the day.
[00:38:22] Third question and final question. Verse 34 says, there will be a time when people will seek Jesus and not find him. You see that there question.
[00:38:32] Do you daily consider the urgency of salvation for the lost?
[00:38:38] Do you daily consider that there will be a day that is too late for some to repent? There will be a day, friends.
[00:38:48] So what do we do? First and foremost, get in God's word and be reminded of the person of Jesus Christ, the faithfulness and the kindness and the goodness and the sovereignty of God over all things.
[00:39:02] And secondly, consider there will be a day Jesus comes again, and it will be too late for people to believe.
[00:39:10] Grab a Bible, give it to somebody. Engage people in conversations of faith. Engage their hearts, because there's too many people out there who don't have tension in their hearts between should I believe in Jesus? Should I follow my own way? There's too many people that are comfortable over here saying, I think I'm fine.
[00:39:29] You and I, our job is not to make people believe. Our job is to make sure that there's tension in people's hearts. Make sure that people know, I know where Jesus. I know who Jesus is. I know what he taught.
[00:39:42] I have attention towards the flesh. Let jesus do the work of pulling them towards salvation. But make sure, friends, everybody in our life, is there a tension in their hearts between right and wrong, good and evil? Do they know there's another side? Let's close in prayer. Dear Jesus, thank you that you are a God who loves us and cares for us that you're a God who desires us to know the truth. Because you know the truth will set us free.
[00:40:10] Even though there may be angst and challenges pulling in our heart daily, even as we have desires of the flesh. And you have placed in us through your spirit a desire for wholeness and for holiness, there's a tension that exists in all of us. Lord, help us to depend on you to stay on the side of holiness, to ask you for clarity when we're confused. That we would trust in you.
[00:40:38] Lord, give us strength to step out of the comfort zones that we live in so often and to invite other people into relationship with you, whatever their response may be. Lord, we leave in your hands.
[00:40:51] You've called us to be your ambassadors in that way. In Jesus name, amen.
