Hard To Not Believe (John 7:25-8:30)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:04.480 I believe this is my last sermon on this passage that we've been looking at 2 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:09.070 for the last several weeks. I'm going to begin preaching and John, or 3 00:00:09.109 --> 00:00:15.669 reading from John Seven, Verse Twenty Five, John Hundred and twenty five, 4 00:00:15.830 --> 00:00:22.739 and I'll read through thirty. We're beg we're I'm focusing today on a theme 5 00:00:22.940 --> 00:00:27.100 that we began with when we started looking at this passage, the theme of 6 00:00:27.859 --> 00:00:34.619 of belief. We began preaching and hearing this passage, one of the things 7 00:00:34.740 --> 00:00:38.289 that became evidence was that there are many, many people who do not believe. 8 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:44.369 Today we will focus on those who do, and Jesus is description of 9 00:00:44.570 --> 00:00:49.049 what it means to believe in him. So I pray that, I'm God 10 00:00:49.130 --> 00:00:53.039 would soften our hearts that we might believe his word. Let's give our attention 11 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:58.439 to it now. John Seven, verse Twenty Five. Let's hear what the 12 00:00:58.479 --> 00:01:06.269 Lord has to say about believing in him. Some of the people of Jerusalem 13 00:01:06.349 --> 00:01:11.069 therefore said, is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And 14 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:15.069 here he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Can it be 15 00:01:15.230 --> 00:01:21.379 that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where 16 00:01:21.420 --> 00:01:25.939 this man comes from and when the Christ appears, no one will know where 17 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:29.859 he comes from. So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, 18 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:34.530 you know me and you know where I come from, but I've not come 19 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:38.209 of my own accord. He who sent me, is true, and him 20 00:01:38.290 --> 00:01:42.609 you do not know. I know him, for I come from him and 21 00:01:42.730 --> 00:01:47.049 he sent me. So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one 22 00:01:47.090 --> 00:01:52.079 laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. Yet many 23 00:01:52.200 --> 00:01:56.599 of the people believed in him. They said, when the Christ appears, 24 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:00.829 will he do more signs than this man has done? The Pharisees heard the 25 00:02:00.909 --> 00:02:06.510 crowd muttering these things and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest 26 00:02:06.510 --> 00:02:10.389 him. Jesus then said, I will be with you a little longer and 27 00:02:10.590 --> 00:02:15.740 then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and 28 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:20.419 you will not find me where I where I am, you cannot come. 29 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:23.659 The Jews said to one another. Where does this man intend to go that 30 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:28.340 we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the dispersion among 31 00:02:28.340 --> 00:02:30.969 the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What does he mean by saying you will 32 00:02:30.969 --> 00:02:34.610 seek me and you will not find me? And where I am, you 33 00:02:34.729 --> 00:02:38.770 cannot come. On the last day of the feast, the Great Day, 34 00:02:38.849 --> 00:02:43.129 Jesus stood up and cried out if anyone thirsts, let him come to me 35 00:02:43.250 --> 00:02:47.280 and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out 36 00:02:47.319 --> 00:02:52.800 of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now, this he said 37 00:02:52.840 --> 00:02:58.240 about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as 38 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:01.509 the spirit had not yet been given, for as yet the spirit had not 39 00:03:02.509 --> 00:03:08.110 been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. When they heard these words, 40 00:03:08.349 --> 00:03:13.300 some of the people said this really is the prophet, others said this is 41 00:03:13.539 --> 00:03:17.539 the Christ, but some said is the crop Christ to come from Galilee? 42 00:03:19.020 --> 00:03:22.300 Has Not? The scripture said that Christ comes from the offspring of David and 43 00:03:22.460 --> 00:03:25.620 comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was. So there was a division 44 00:03:25.659 --> 00:03:29.849 among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but 45 00:03:29.969 --> 00:03:35.050 no one laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priests 46 00:03:35.129 --> 00:03:38.409 and Pharisees, who said to them, why did you not bring him? 47 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:43.560 The officers answered, no one ever spoke like this man. The Pharisees answered, 48 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:47.280 answered them, have you also been deceived? have any of the authorities 49 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:52.400 or the Pharisees believed in him, but this crowd that does not know the 50 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:57.469 law is a cursed Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was 51 00:03:57.590 --> 00:04:00.189 one of them, said to them. Does our law judge a man without 52 00:04:00.310 --> 00:04:04.909 first hearing him and hearing and learning what he does? They replied, are 53 00:04:04.949 --> 00:04:11.539 you from Galilee to search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee? Now, 54 00:04:11.740 --> 00:04:15.060 Chapter Eight, verse twelve. Again Jesus spoke to them, saying I 55 00:04:15.220 --> 00:04:19.339 am the light of the world. Whoever follows me does not walk in darkness 56 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:24.139 but will have the light of life. So the PHARISEE said to him. 57 00:04:24.569 --> 00:04:29.850 You are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true, Jesus answered. 58 00:04:30.370 --> 00:04:33.329 Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, 59 00:04:33.810 --> 00:04:36.970 for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you 60 00:04:38.129 --> 00:04:42.560 do not know where I came come from or where I am going. You 61 00:04:42.680 --> 00:04:46.839 judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. Yet even if I 62 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.920 do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who 63 00:04:50.959 --> 00:04:56.709 judge, but I and the father who sent me. In your law it 64 00:04:56.870 --> 00:05:00.550 is written that the testimony of two people is true. I am the one 65 00:05:00.589 --> 00:05:04.069 who bears witness about myself, and the father who sent me bears witness about 66 00:05:04.110 --> 00:05:09.459 me. They said to him, therefore, where is your father? Jesus 67 00:05:09.540 --> 00:05:13.779 answered, you know neither me nor my father. If you knew me, 68 00:05:14.300 --> 00:05:17.339 you would know my father also these words. He spoke in the Treasury, 69 00:05:17.379 --> 00:05:21.569 as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him because his hour 70 00:05:23.050 --> 00:05:27.089 had not yet come. So he said to them again, I am going 71 00:05:27.250 --> 00:05:30.250 away and you will seek me and you will die in your sin. where 72 00:05:30.250 --> 00:05:34.529 I am going, you cannot come. So the Jews said, will he 73 00:05:34.610 --> 00:05:38.600 kill himself, since he said where I am going, you cannot come. 74 00:05:39.560 --> 00:05:43.759 He said to them, you are from below, I am from above. 75 00:05:43.800 --> 00:05:46.560 You are of this world. I am not of this world. I told 76 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:50.509 you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I 77 00:05:50.670 --> 00:05:56.350 am he, you will die in your sins. And they said to him, 78 00:05:56.389 --> 00:06:00.189 who are you? Jesus said to them, just what I have been 79 00:06:00.310 --> 00:06:03.980 telling you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much 80 00:06:04.100 --> 00:06:08.860 to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to 81 00:06:08.899 --> 00:06:14.259 the world what I have heard from him. They did not understand that he 82 00:06:14.300 --> 00:06:17.459 had been speaking to them about the father. So Jesus said to them, 83 00:06:18.370 --> 00:06:21.850 when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that 84 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:27.449 I am he and I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just 85 00:06:27.689 --> 00:06:30.290 as the father taught me, and he who sent me is with me. 86 00:06:30.889 --> 00:06:34.759 He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are 87 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:41.240 pleasing to him. As he was saying these things, many believed in him. 88 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:47.189 Praise God. Well, every time I read this passage, and really 89 00:06:47.230 --> 00:06:53.310 all of John I continue to see why I keep reading this passage. There's 90 00:06:53.350 --> 00:06:58.629 so much there, there's so much that's going on. John's funny in this 91 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:03.819 way. I'm he uses very, very simple words, very simple words, 92 00:07:05.180 --> 00:07:11.100 and he constructs things together in a very sort of simple way. But it 93 00:07:11.300 --> 00:07:16.009 goes really, really deep, and there's there's multiple movements going on. You 94 00:07:16.089 --> 00:07:20.730 almost sort of sense of the crowds sort of swirling around him as you read 95 00:07:20.810 --> 00:07:25.689 this story. There's this voice and that voice and his voice and this people 96 00:07:25.810 --> 00:07:30.240 and that people, multiple things going on at the same time and it's it's 97 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:38.360 worth spending the time to think about these things, especially now as we contrast 98 00:07:38.399 --> 00:07:43.519 and we think about the nature of unbelief, as Jesus is talking about it 99 00:07:44.470 --> 00:08:00.019 here, as Jesus comes into Jerusalem. You remember the setting for that was, 100 00:08:00.100 --> 00:08:03.860 of course, him conflict with his brothers. But moving on from that, 101 00:08:03.019 --> 00:08:09.699 he comes into Jerusalem and immediately there's commotion about the nature of Jesus. 102 00:08:09.180 --> 00:08:13.329 Who is he? Who is this Jesus, and do we believe him? 103 00:08:13.329 --> 00:08:16.850 Are Do we not? In Verse Twenty Five, people say, is this 104 00:08:16.050 --> 00:08:20.209 not the man they are seeking to kill? And that reminds us of one 105 00:08:20.410 --> 00:08:26.769 group of people. One Group of people are the Pharisees and the priests. 106 00:08:26.889 --> 00:08:31.960 We read in Verse Thirty Two that they send officers to go and arrest Jesus. 107 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:37.600 So while this, all this commotion is going on, There's you could 108 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:41.509 imagine, the crowds, right that general crowd saying who is he and isn't 109 00:08:41.549 --> 00:08:45.269 this the one they're trying to kill? Isn't the one they're trying trying to 110 00:08:45.309 --> 00:08:50.029 arrest? Meanwhile there is a group of people who want to arrest him, 111 00:08:50.029 --> 00:08:54.980 the priests and the Pharisees. They send out officers to go get this done. 112 00:08:56.259 --> 00:08:58.779 It's a funny thing, right they they send him out, then the 113 00:08:58.980 --> 00:09:05.139 officers come back with empty handed. The officers come back empty hand to they 114 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:09.259 say did not? We tell you to arrest him? Why are you here? 115 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:13.009 And they say how can we arrest him? No one teaches like this 116 00:09:13.250 --> 00:09:20.970 man, who has ever done this before? And the reaction of the they 117 00:09:20.009 --> 00:09:24.480 were, reaction of the Pharisees and the priests and these other people that sent 118 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:26.679 these officers, is what they don't say. Oh, you know what, 119 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:31.639 good point, or I yeah, maybe we're rushing a little bit too much 120 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:39.269 into this. No, they say. What they say is which one of 121 00:09:39.509 --> 00:09:48.950 us has believed in him. In other words, they say the officers say, 122 00:09:48.990 --> 00:09:52.019 the ones who are sent to go arrest him say, how can we 123 00:09:52.139 --> 00:09:56.940 arrest him? No one is like this person, no one teaches like him. 124 00:09:58.299 --> 00:10:03.379 He's on a whole different level. This feels wrong and the Pharisees establish 125 00:10:03.460 --> 00:10:09.330 themselves, or try to establish themselves, over and against Jesus. They say, 126 00:10:09.450 --> 00:10:13.889 forget what you've seen, forget what you've heard. Look at us, 127 00:10:13.809 --> 00:10:18.490 we are the authorities here. It doesn't matter who he is, it doesn't 128 00:10:18.529 --> 00:10:26.039 matter what he said, which one of us has believed? Now that might 129 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:31.080 be convincing if these were actually godly people, if these were people that actually 130 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:33.919 cared about the things of God and his law. But, as we know 131 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:39.149 throughout the gospels, that was not the case. These were people who cared 132 00:10:39.230 --> 00:10:43.029 about power. These were people who cared about their own will and their own 133 00:10:43.029 --> 00:10:46.789 way, who used God's law as a pretense to get the things that they 134 00:10:46.909 --> 00:10:52.139 wanted. Who would pray, not because prayer was good and important? Who 135 00:10:52.139 --> 00:10:56.379 would not lead prayers a way to serve the people, but would pray? 136 00:10:56.580 --> 00:11:01.980 Who would? Who would go around making salt, making everybody known how great 137 00:11:03.139 --> 00:11:07.409 prayers they were? When they fasted? They they wouldn't fast because out of 138 00:11:07.649 --> 00:11:13.169 out of humility and and worship and prayer. They would fast and they would 139 00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:18.370 make themselves look gone so that they would go to people and say, it's 140 00:11:18.409 --> 00:11:20.960 been a hard week. I really why has been a hard week. I've 141 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:24.879 just been fast and so much. Oh have you right? They would. 142 00:11:24.919 --> 00:11:28.639 They it was about themselves, it was about showing off, it was about 143 00:11:28.639 --> 00:11:35.870 being viewed in a particular way. They would even twist the law as a 144 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:41.029 way to not obey the law. They would hi these tiny little things and 145 00:11:41.350 --> 00:11:46.029 have all kinds of arguments about this little point or that little point and then 146 00:11:46.110 --> 00:11:52.740 not even take care of their parents. They're all kinds of examples of this 147 00:11:52.860 --> 00:11:56.940 and for this reason Jesus speaks very strongly about them. He calls them, 148 00:11:56.980 --> 00:12:03.850 in some places, whitewashed tombs. He calls them here. He says, 149 00:12:03.090 --> 00:12:09.490 you will not enter into my rest, you will not you, you will 150 00:12:09.610 --> 00:12:13.409 not come into the kingdom, you will not know the father, you will 151 00:12:13.490 --> 00:12:20.120 not go where I go because you're in your sin. They were hanging onto 152 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:24.279 that. They wanted that more than anything else, and that's ultimately what it 153 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:30.909 is to deny Jesus, to turn away from him and say no, I 154 00:12:31.149 --> 00:12:33.190 want what I want in the way that I want it, in the time 155 00:12:33.350 --> 00:12:37.509 that I want it, and I want it here and I want it now. 156 00:12:39.029 --> 00:12:41.509 That's what unbelief is and that's what, in part, we are seeing. 157 00:12:45.059 --> 00:12:48.980 So the Pharisees send out the officers. The officers come back and say 158 00:12:50.220 --> 00:12:54.340 we're not comfortable with this. Essentially, I'm they don't actually say that. 159 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:56.500 They say they say who is spoken like this man? They seem to be 160 00:12:56.580 --> 00:13:05.169 uncomfortable with this in some way and then, interestingly, they the so the 161 00:13:05.250 --> 00:13:09.250 Pharisees respond in Verse Forty Seven. Have you also been deceived? have any 162 00:13:09.289 --> 00:13:13.960 of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him. This crowd that does not 163 00:13:13.240 --> 00:13:18.080 know the law is a cursed and we might ask, if the crowd doesn't 164 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:22.759 know the law, whose fault is that, by the way? Moving on, 165 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:31.389 Nicodemus, interestingly then comes who is one of them? Right, so 166 00:13:31.669 --> 00:13:35.750 this would this would be a point which would possibly totally undermine their argument. 167 00:13:35.830 --> 00:13:41.539 Right here is one of them. He doesn't exactly say he believes, but 168 00:13:41.659 --> 00:13:45.580 he says, let's slow this train down, right, does our law? 169 00:13:46.100 --> 00:13:52.659 Just notice how he appeals to it, the law, he finds common ground, 170 00:13:52.700 --> 00:13:54.220 he establishes it on their own terms. And he says, does our 171 00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:58.730 law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? 172 00:13:58.889 --> 00:14:03.809 They reply. Good Point, Nicodemus. Thank you for keeping US focused 173 00:14:03.850 --> 00:14:07.330 on the law of God. We want to do things right and according to 174 00:14:07.490 --> 00:14:11.960 his word. So yes, let's set up a tribunal and make sure we 175 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:16.120 hear this man and get other witnesses. Of course not. That's not what 176 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:20.399 they say. What do they say? Are you from Galilee to search and 177 00:14:20.519 --> 00:14:24.950 see that no prophet arises from Galilee? Okay, so it is somewhat of 178 00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:30.509 a religious argument, but it's it's just an attack. They're just attacking him, 179 00:14:31.909 --> 00:14:35.909 they are taking one of their own and attacking him as a way to 180 00:14:35.990 --> 00:14:43.539 undermine him and again just establish themselves and their view without any reference to what 181 00:14:43.740 --> 00:14:50.059 Jesus is actually saying, what things are actually being said and done. This 182 00:14:50.220 --> 00:14:54.250 is what unbelief is. Now, Nicodemus is a nice way to sort of 183 00:14:54.409 --> 00:15:00.129 transition and begin to start thinking about belief, because you remember it was Nicodemus 184 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:05.730 who, you know, came in the night back in chapter three to Jesus, 185 00:15:05.889 --> 00:15:11.159 and John reminds us of that here, that he had previously come to 186 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:15.480 Jesus, and Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, who was one 187 00:15:15.559 --> 00:15:18.279 of them. He came to Jesus back in John Chapter three and he had 188 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:24.269 kind of a theological discussion with him, a discussion about being born again, 189 00:15:24.309 --> 00:15:26.990 and it's in the cought, the context of that discussion, that we have 190 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:35.500 John Sixteen, that whoever believes will have everlasting life, that the one who 191 00:15:35.620 --> 00:15:41.500 believes in whom the father has sent, the one who believes in this, 192 00:15:41.659 --> 00:15:46.100 one who will go to the father, that one will have everlasting life. 193 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:52.169 So Jan, so Nicodemus has begun to hear these words. Maybe he's begun 194 00:15:52.289 --> 00:16:03.009 to listen. We also have the crowds. When we think about belief and 195 00:16:03.129 --> 00:16:08.440 what it means to believe, we have the crowds who believe in some ways 196 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:15.679 but also seem confused. And this is sometimes the nature of belief. It's 197 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:23.309 not always black and white, is it? In our human nature as Christians, 198 00:16:23.470 --> 00:16:29.149 we are have both the flesh and the spirit. Romans tells us this, 199 00:16:29.350 --> 00:16:33.580 and and Paul says that we those, those two things, those two 200 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:37.580 sides of us, on the fleshly side of us and the spirit of God 201 00:16:37.620 --> 00:16:41.419 dwelling in us. They're at war with one another, and that means that 202 00:16:41.980 --> 00:16:49.610 gifts like faith are at war with sins like doubt. So it's not surprising, 203 00:16:49.690 --> 00:16:56.129 then, from our own experience and from the the theology that we have 204 00:16:56.409 --> 00:17:00.889 in scripture, to find this expressed in this way. So verse thirty, 205 00:17:02.600 --> 00:17:04.240 or if our verse thirty one, rather, it says. Yet many of 206 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:08.079 the people believed in him, though there were some who were seeking to arrest 207 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:12.640 him. Many believed in him, but notice the question that follows it. 208 00:17:12.839 --> 00:17:18.630 It says they said, when the Christ appears, will he do more signs 209 00:17:18.670 --> 00:17:25.430 than this man has done? So that's really interesting. They believe in him, 210 00:17:26.150 --> 00:17:30.779 and yet they also don't seem to believe that he's the Christ. They 211 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:37.220 believe in him, and yet they're waiting for someone else who will do as 212 00:17:37.380 --> 00:17:45.930 much as, or more than, Jesus. So That's interesting. Then we 213 00:17:47.089 --> 00:17:52.769 read that there is there is a discussion, sorry, in verse thirty seven, 214 00:17:52.809 --> 00:17:57.210 where Jesus talks about belief. There's this invitation we looked at last time 215 00:17:57.250 --> 00:18:02.319 verse Thirty Eight. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture is said, 216 00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:06.839 out of his heart will flow living waters. Now this he said about the 217 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:12.990 spirit whom those who believed in were to receive, for as yet the spirit 218 00:18:14.069 --> 00:18:18.069 had not yet been given. And then we looked at this last time to 219 00:18:18.190 --> 00:18:22.710 think about the way in which the spirit was at work in their lives in 220 00:18:22.869 --> 00:18:26.670 some way now, or else they wouldn't be believing, and yet would be 221 00:18:26.950 --> 00:18:33.859 poured out in a greater way after Jesus's Resurrection, after his and his ascension. 222 00:18:33.940 --> 00:18:41.299 So this anticipation of the spirit is mentioned here and this promise to those 223 00:18:41.380 --> 00:18:45.970 who would would believe and those who were believing. Now, if you go 224 00:18:47.089 --> 00:18:48.970 down to the end of the passage that we read, we have another reference 225 00:18:49.049 --> 00:18:56.160 to this where he says to them that they who do not understand will come 226 00:18:56.440 --> 00:19:00.559 to understand. He says in Verse Twenty Eight. He said to them, 227 00:19:00.599 --> 00:19:03.640 when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that 228 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:07.880 I am he and that I do nothing on my authority but speak, just 229 00:19:07.160 --> 00:19:11.670 as the father taught me, and he who send me is with me. 230 00:19:11.829 --> 00:19:15.150 He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are 231 00:19:15.230 --> 00:19:18.990 pleasing to him. As he was saying these things, many believed in him. 232 00:19:19.950 --> 00:19:23.380 So there are those who believe and have some understanding of him, there 233 00:19:23.579 --> 00:19:29.420 is belief that is growing and there are additional people that are being added to 234 00:19:29.579 --> 00:19:33.940 this group. This is somewhat of the nature of Christ's ministry and this is 235 00:19:33.180 --> 00:19:40.049 something of his continuing nature in the world today. No doubt each of you 236 00:19:40.369 --> 00:19:42.970 are in your own particular spot, if we could put it that way, 237 00:19:44.369 --> 00:19:48.369 have your own particular ways in which you believe, some which are very good 238 00:19:48.730 --> 00:19:52.960 and some which are lacking. Each of us can raise our hand and say 239 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:59.960 I'm struggling to believe the Lord about this, I'm struggling to believe the Lord 240 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:04.559 about that, or in this situation or in that situation. Honestly, I'm 241 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:11.390 anxious honestly, I'm afraid. Honestly, I have other idols. I love 242 00:20:11.750 --> 00:20:15.069 certain things more than I love him. Sometimes, I fear certain things more 243 00:20:15.230 --> 00:20:26.339 than I fear him. Sometimes. What do we do with that? How 244 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:32.579 do we grow? How do we come to believe so that we can participate 245 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:38.809 and share in this spirit that he's talking about, so that our hearts will 246 00:20:38.809 --> 00:20:45.650 flow with rivers of living water, so that we will be able to go 247 00:20:45.930 --> 00:20:51.599 where Jesus is and not remain in our sins? Jesus puts this in very 248 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:56.319 strong terms. To believe in him is everything. To not believe in him 249 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:02.960 is to lose everything. One of the things that we have to say, 250 00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:08.549 that I've been mentioning, an underlining, proclaiming to you and will continue to 251 00:21:08.670 --> 00:21:14.190 do so as we go through John, is that believing in him, truly 252 00:21:14.269 --> 00:21:18.660 believing in him, so that we might have eternal life, so that we 253 00:21:18.740 --> 00:21:22.740 might have the spirit, so that we might have the things of God and 254 00:21:22.019 --> 00:21:29.099 be with him and dwell with him. It happens not because we believe in 255 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:37.130 belief, it's because we believe in him as he truly is. I don't 256 00:21:37.130 --> 00:21:41.009 know if you have seems. I feel like I see this all the time 257 00:21:41.289 --> 00:21:45.490 you go in the grocery store somewhere and people with sweatshirts and things that say 258 00:21:45.049 --> 00:21:52.640 believe. I mean, I just never know what to do with that. 259 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.319 In a way, I don't understand what it is that people are wanting when 260 00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:02.390 they say that, and it seems to be a kind of the only way 261 00:22:02.430 --> 00:22:06.230 I can sort of make sense of it is it's a sort of, if 262 00:22:06.269 --> 00:22:10.549 I could put it in this way, a sort of a disneyfied version of 263 00:22:11.509 --> 00:22:18.420 faith. or it's like if you look up on a star and sort of 264 00:22:18.500 --> 00:22:22.420 put your hopes to sort of send them out there right somehow, just like 265 00:22:22.539 --> 00:22:26.859 an energy or a thought, or sometimes we'll even talk about a prayer, 266 00:22:26.940 --> 00:22:30.849 you know, just sort of send those things out or hope right, just 267 00:22:32.049 --> 00:22:34.170 hope and what? I don't know, just hope. As long as you 268 00:22:34.329 --> 00:22:40.210 hope right, as long as you believe. Then you drill down a little 269 00:22:40.210 --> 00:22:44.170 bit and it's usually in yourself right. It's usually like you can do it 270 00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:48.119 and you have things within you that are but what does Jesus say to John? 271 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:51.599 What is Jesus? You know? What is John the Baptist says is, 272 00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:56.279 you know, we are born again, not of the will of man 273 00:22:56.519 --> 00:23:00.670 but of the will of God. We are born not a flesh and blood 274 00:23:00.789 --> 00:23:03.670 and are striving and our energy, but of of God. Like we can't 275 00:23:03.750 --> 00:23:11.269 just dig down deep in ourselves and find salvation. What we find our hard 276 00:23:11.390 --> 00:23:14.660 hearts. What we find it stubbornness. So anyway, so there's this idea 277 00:23:14.779 --> 00:23:18.859 that if you just kind of get a twinkle in your eye and try, 278 00:23:18.980 --> 00:23:22.900 I really hard and have a little hope and sing a little song, that 279 00:23:23.140 --> 00:23:27.250 everything's going to be okay. And that's, of course, a very positive 280 00:23:27.369 --> 00:23:33.529 message. And you know, I suppose I was going to say maybe there 281 00:23:33.529 --> 00:23:36.009 are worse things, but I don't know, maybe there are not worse things 282 00:23:36.009 --> 00:23:40.450 than this, because one of the things it does, if we really hold 283 00:23:40.490 --> 00:23:42.240 on to that and that becomes a part of our hearts and a part of 284 00:23:42.319 --> 00:23:48.200 our thinking, is it's a rejection of Christ. It's a rejection of the 285 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:53.759 only one that can save us. Now, sometimes religious people will do a 286 00:23:53.799 --> 00:23:59.069 little better than this and be a little more specific and talk about a higher 287 00:23:59.150 --> 00:24:07.349 power or a spiritual being or some sort of life energy or force or the 288 00:24:07.470 --> 00:24:11.380 great mystery or something like that, a little better, but it's still nothing 289 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:17.339 close to what Jesus is talking about. I do nothing on my own authority. 290 00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:21.259 I come from Him who sent me. I go to my father, 291 00:24:21.859 --> 00:24:25.809 I judge as I have been I have been given to judge. You will 292 00:24:25.890 --> 00:24:33.730 die in your sins. This is very specific teaching, very specific. Jesus 293 00:24:33.769 --> 00:24:37.769 is not kind of a, you know, generalist about who he is. 294 00:24:37.490 --> 00:24:40.880 He's not. He doesn't come and say, well, I don't want to 295 00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:45.119 say too much and why don't you just make me who you need me to 296 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:51.279 be. That's not what he says. He says I am from the father 297 00:24:51.559 --> 00:24:56.230 and I go to the father and I am not the father, but we 298 00:24:56.390 --> 00:25:00.950 are one. That's what he says about himself. I and the father are 299 00:25:00.109 --> 00:25:04.549 sending the spirit in this way and at this time. It's very specific. 300 00:25:08.299 --> 00:25:12.299 And so what I love is in verse thirty. But it says, as 301 00:25:12.500 --> 00:25:19.940 he was saying, these things. Many believed in him, and that's my 302 00:25:21.140 --> 00:25:29.809 prayer for you too. The as he says, these things, not amorphous 303 00:25:30.049 --> 00:25:37.279 nothings, not the things you want him to say, not the twinklings of 304 00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:44.559 your eye or the the whispers of your heart, but these things, these 305 00:25:44.880 --> 00:25:52.829 revelations of God, as he says, these things that you would believe in 306 00:25:52.470 --> 00:26:00.670 him because that's where he says our salvation is. That's where we find our 307 00:26:00.829 --> 00:26:08.539 hope. Believing just to believe is fine. If you're going to enter into 308 00:26:08.579 --> 00:26:14.460 a theme park, you're going to suspend belief and just let your imagination play 309 00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:17.259 a little it. Or you're going to go to a movie and you suspend 310 00:26:17.299 --> 00:26:21.809 believe to enter into a story and enjoy yourself for a little bit. Okay, 311 00:26:22.690 --> 00:26:27.369 that's not what we're talking about here. Entering the Kingdom of God is 312 00:26:27.529 --> 00:26:33.920 not entering a movie, it's not entering a theme park, it's not entering 313 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:40.279 into a world of speculation and imagination. Is Entering into a god created reality 314 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:47.000 that he is storing and for you, in a real inheritance that he will 315 00:26:47.390 --> 00:26:52.150 give to all who believe in him, and to those who don't, to 316 00:26:52.269 --> 00:26:56.230 those who remain in their hardness of hearts and then their sins, the door 317 00:26:56.390 --> 00:27:00.349 will be shut and they will be cast out and there will be weeping and 318 00:27:00.430 --> 00:27:06.660 gnashing of teeth. It's all very specific, it's all very real, and 319 00:27:06.940 --> 00:27:11.460 that's why people get offended at Jesus. That's why people want to make him 320 00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:15.730 and whatever they want to make him to be and make him their own personal 321 00:27:15.930 --> 00:27:22.329 God because the real God, because Jesus has he truly is, is offensive 322 00:27:22.730 --> 00:27:33.519 to our sin. It's offensive and you can choose to be offended and huff 323 00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:41.440 out of here and Undo Your Life and remain in your sin and look at 324 00:27:41.480 --> 00:27:45.430 all the sin and soft bring in this world and recognize over and over and 325 00:27:45.589 --> 00:27:52.470 over again that there is absolutely nothing you can do to truly solve it and 326 00:27:52.670 --> 00:28:00.059 that your life is nothing but vanity of vanities, learning and forgetting, growing 327 00:28:00.339 --> 00:28:04.460 and falling back, striving and then having it all torn apart. That's what 328 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:08.980 life under the sun is. That's what our experiences and that's all it will 329 00:28:08.980 --> 00:28:15.809 be until judgment, and that's what you will experience. You can pretend, 330 00:28:17.849 --> 00:28:19.650 you can eat and drink and be merry and try to get along as best 331 00:28:19.650 --> 00:28:22.690 as you can, but ultimately it'll just gnaw weigh at you and then you 332 00:28:22.730 --> 00:28:30.759 will die. I don't mean to be morose or difficult, just telling you 333 00:28:30.880 --> 00:28:37.039 the truth. I'm telling you the truth because God promises us something so much 334 00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:42.470 more. He promises that our life doesn't have to be a vanity of vanities 335 00:28:42.549 --> 00:28:49.710 leading to vanity, but that there is real hope. As seriously as the 336 00:28:49.789 --> 00:28:53.950 Bible takes our sin and as seriously as the Bible presents to us life under 337 00:28:53.950 --> 00:29:00.420 the sun and recognizes the suffering and misery we are under as a result of 338 00:29:00.460 --> 00:29:07.859 our sin, it also takes equally seriously and speaks equally true about the glories 339 00:29:08.059 --> 00:29:15.490 that God gives to us as a gift. Jesus doesn't say, go out 340 00:29:15.569 --> 00:29:19.930 and do these tenzero things and then come back to me. Will have a 341 00:29:21.009 --> 00:29:26.559 one to one, see how it went and then I'll decide. What does 342 00:29:26.599 --> 00:29:33.319 he say? Believe in me, just trust me, just receive the gift 343 00:29:33.400 --> 00:29:38.150 I'm giving to you. It's insane that we don't say thank you, but 344 00:29:38.269 --> 00:29:42.390 of course we do. All of you who are in Christ have and do 345 00:29:42.710 --> 00:29:48.910 do that on a daily basis. That's what a Christian is. We live 346 00:29:48.029 --> 00:29:55.220 in him, we abide in him in these things, and that's why he 347 00:29:55.380 --> 00:30:00.299 says what he says in third verse Thirty One and Thirty Two, which I 348 00:30:00.299 --> 00:30:06.099 didn't read yet. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 349 00:30:06.140 --> 00:30:12.890 if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you 350 00:30:14.009 --> 00:30:21.759 will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Isn't that good 351 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:30.200 news? That is the Gospel that when we believe these things and not just 352 00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:34.240 we think about them from time to time or we recognize that we heard them, 353 00:30:34.279 --> 00:30:38.750 but we abide in them, we live in them, we dwell in 354 00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:45.950 them, we see the fruit of them being produced in our lives, because 355 00:30:45.150 --> 00:30:49.619 one of the things that happens when we abide in the word of God as 356 00:30:49.660 --> 00:30:55.420 simultaneously the word is abiding in us. It's like when you put a tea 357 00:30:55.539 --> 00:31:00.500 bag into a cup, it infuses all the water. When God's, through 358 00:31:00.619 --> 00:31:06.930 his spirit and in his word, abides in us, it produces effects in 359 00:31:07.049 --> 00:31:11.849 our lives. That's why let me read to you from James. That's why 360 00:31:11.890 --> 00:31:21.839 James Speaks about religious life, Christian life, in this way, James One 361 00:31:21.880 --> 00:31:26.039 verse twenty two. But be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving 362 00:31:26.119 --> 00:31:30.200 yourselves. For if anyone is a hero of the word of God and not 363 00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:33.869 a doer, he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in 364 00:31:33.950 --> 00:31:38.509 a mirror, for he looks at himself and he goes away and it forgets 365 00:31:38.630 --> 00:31:45.630 once forgets what he looks like. I think I am this is true. 366 00:31:45.710 --> 00:31:49.220 I think I'm honestly a little bit surprised every time I look at myself in 367 00:31:49.339 --> 00:31:52.980 the mirror. I don't know if that maybe I'm just weird that way, 368 00:31:52.220 --> 00:31:56.140 but I I'm always a little bit surprised. I think. Well though, 369 00:31:56.220 --> 00:32:05.769 yeah, that's me right. We forget, but the one who looks into 370 00:32:05.809 --> 00:32:10.529 the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres. Being no here 371 00:32:10.690 --> 00:32:15.650 who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his 372 00:32:15.759 --> 00:32:20.480 doing. If anyone thinks he's religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives 373 00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:25.359 his heart, this person's religion is worthless, garbage. Throw it away. 374 00:32:25.519 --> 00:32:30.910 It's of no use to you or anybody else. Religion is that is pure 375 00:32:30.990 --> 00:32:35.750 and undefiled before God, the father is this to visit orphans and widows in 376 00:32:35.829 --> 00:32:42.589 their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world. When we abide in 377 00:32:42.710 --> 00:32:45.099 the word and the word abides and us, it has an effect in our 378 00:32:45.180 --> 00:32:51.539 lives. To do. If I use my metaphor and do what James is 379 00:32:51.700 --> 00:32:55.900 warning us against, that's like taking the your tea packet and setting it outside, 380 00:32:57.420 --> 00:33:00.210 right or right next to or right above, just suspending it above your 381 00:33:00.289 --> 00:33:05.369 hot water. Going there. That'll be good. It has no effect, 382 00:33:05.410 --> 00:33:13.319 it's worthless. It doesn't know good. So what is Jesus telling US then? 383 00:33:15.960 --> 00:33:22.680 He's he's calling to us to recognize our see, to recognize our sinfulness, 384 00:33:22.039 --> 00:33:25.640 to recognize this world that we are in and to see that he is 385 00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:30.430 not of this world, but he is from his father in heaven, who 386 00:33:30.589 --> 00:33:37.029 is come in love to save us, to be a light shining in the 387 00:33:37.109 --> 00:33:43.259 darkness, to tell us the things of God, to reveal to us his 388 00:33:43.619 --> 00:33:51.220 will for our salvation, so that when we abide in those things, we 389 00:33:51.339 --> 00:33:55.369 will have truth and the truth will set us free. That's what it means 390 00:33:55.529 --> 00:34:04.529 to be a disciple, that's what it means to truly believe. So my 391 00:34:04.690 --> 00:34:10.760 exhortation, my application to you as Christians, to myself, is let us 392 00:34:10.760 --> 00:34:16.079 be people who abide in the word, who know it, who love it, 393 00:34:16.639 --> 00:34:22.199 who learn it, who grow in it, who don't assume things about 394 00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:27.230 it, but come back to it again and again, who don't simply make 395 00:34:27.349 --> 00:34:30.750 up things in our mind and speculate, but come again and again to the 396 00:34:30.829 --> 00:34:38.780 specific things of God's word that we might know and trust in Him who speaks 397 00:34:38.820 --> 00:34:46.179 them, in Him who is revealed there and as God reveals himself in this 398 00:34:46.300 --> 00:34:51.179 way, and as God calls himself to or calls us to himself. In 399 00:34:51.300 --> 00:34:53.610 this way, as we believe, we will know the truth and we will 400 00:34:53.650 --> 00:34:59.489 be free, we will have eternal life. Amen. Let's pray