To the Father (John 7:25-8:30)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:06.400 Let's turn our attention again to the gospel of John, at beginning in Chapter 2 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:12.349 Seven, Verse Twenty Five, and Reading through Ver Chapter Eight, verse thirty. 3 00:00:12.390 --> 00:00:18.589 Last week we took some time to carefully think about the context in which 4 00:00:18.589 --> 00:00:23.579 John is speaking. You remember, perhaps, the controversy that touched all of 5 00:00:23.699 --> 00:00:28.179 this off, when Jesus healed a man on the sabbath and when he was 6 00:00:28.219 --> 00:00:35.619 accused of breaking God's law for doing that, he defended himself by saying that 7 00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:42.729 he is divine, that he is working as the father is working. I'm 8 00:00:42.770 --> 00:00:47.929 it's in light of that controversy that Jesus is speaking these words. Let's give 9 00:00:47.929 --> 00:00:55.000 our attention to them now. John Seven, verse Twenty Five. Some of 10 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:59.600 the people of Jerusalem therefore said, is not this the man whom they seek 11 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:03.399 to kill? And here he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. 12 00:01:03.120 --> 00:01:06.989 Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 13 00:01:07.709 --> 00:01:11.109 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, 14 00:01:11.230 --> 00:01:15.109 no one will know where he comes from. So Jesus proclaimed, as he 15 00:01:15.189 --> 00:01:18.780 taught in the temple. You Know Me and you know where I come from, 16 00:01:19.500 --> 00:01:22.900 but I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me, 17 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:26.379 is true, and him you do not know. I know him, 18 00:01:26.459 --> 00:01:30.420 for I come from him and he sent me. So they were seeking to 19 00:01:30.500 --> 00:01:34.129 arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had 20 00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:38.849 not yet come. Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, 21 00:01:38.129 --> 00:01:42.370 when the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has 22 00:01:42.409 --> 00:01:47.439 done? The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the 23 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:52.319 chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. Jesus then said, 24 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.959 I will be with you a little longer and then I am going to him 25 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:00.719 who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. 26 00:02:00.469 --> 00:02:06.189 where I am going, you cannot come. The Jews said to one another. 27 00:02:06.549 --> 00:02:08.750 Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? 28 00:02:09.310 --> 00:02:14.270 Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 29 00:02:14.430 --> 00:02:16.020 What does he mean by saying you will seek me and you will not 30 00:02:16.219 --> 00:02:21.580 find me, and where I am going or where I am you cannot come? 31 00:02:23.219 --> 00:02:25.060 On the last day of the feast, the Great Day, Jesus stood 32 00:02:25.060 --> 00:02:30.969 up and cried out if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 33 00:02:30.490 --> 00:02:35.210 Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his 34 00:02:35.370 --> 00:02:39.969 heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the spirit 35 00:02:40.009 --> 00:02:45.840 whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the spirit 36 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:51.199 had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. When they heard these 37 00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:53.879 words, some of the people said, this really is the prophet, others 38 00:02:53.960 --> 00:02:59.189 said this is the Christ, but some said is the Christ to come from 39 00:02:59.349 --> 00:03:02.150 Galilee? Has Not? The scripture said that Christ comes from the offspring of 40 00:03:02.229 --> 00:03:07.949 David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was so there was a 41 00:03:07.030 --> 00:03:10.509 division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, 42 00:03:10.830 --> 00:03:15.099 but no one laid their hands on him. The officers then came to the 43 00:03:15.180 --> 00:03:19.860 chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, why did you not bring 44 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:23.259 him? The officers answered, no one ever spoke like this man. The 45 00:03:23.379 --> 00:03:29.370 Pharisees answered them, have you also been deceived? have any of the authorities 46 00:03:29.449 --> 00:03:32.009 of the fair? have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 47 00:03:32.689 --> 00:03:38.330 But this crowd does not know or but this crowd, this crowd that 48 00:03:38.449 --> 00:03:43.360 does not know the law, is a cursed Nicodemus, who had gone to 49 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.280 him before and who was one of them, said to them. Does our 50 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:51.000 law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? 51 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:55.550 They replied, are you from Galilee to search and see that no prophet 52 00:03:55.550 --> 00:04:01.590 arises from Galilee? Now, going to Chapter Eight, verse twelve, again 53 00:04:01.669 --> 00:04:05.789 Jesus spoke to them, saying I am the light of the world. Whoever 54 00:04:05.870 --> 00:04:10.979 follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. 55 00:04:11.860 --> 00:04:15.459 So the Pharisees said to him. You're bearing witness about yourself, your testimony 56 00:04:15.579 --> 00:04:20.459 is not true. Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, 57 00:04:20.939 --> 00:04:26.250 my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where 58 00:04:26.250 --> 00:04:29.970 I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where 59 00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:33.290 I am going. You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. 60 00:04:33.850 --> 00:04:39.040 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it 61 00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:43.600 is not I alone who judge, but I and the father who sent me. 62 00:04:45.120 --> 00:04:47.560 In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 63 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:53.189 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the father who 64 00:04:53.189 --> 00:04:57.670 sent me bears witness about me. They said to him. Where is your 65 00:04:57.709 --> 00:05:02.310 father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. If you 66 00:05:02.350 --> 00:05:06.819 knew me, you would know my father also these words. He spoke in 67 00:05:06.899 --> 00:05:11.660 the Treasury, as he taught in the temple, but no one arrested him 68 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:15.139 because his hour had not yet come. So he said to them again, 69 00:05:15.540 --> 00:05:20.060 I am going away and you will seek me and you will die in your 70 00:05:20.139 --> 00:05:25.970 sin. where I am going, you cannot come. So the Jews said, 71 00:05:26.290 --> 00:05:29.129 will he kill himself, since he says where I am going, you 72 00:05:29.209 --> 00:05:32.970 cannot come. He said to them. You are from below, I am 73 00:05:33.009 --> 00:05:38.160 from above. You are of the world or of this world. I am 74 00:05:38.279 --> 00:05:42.160 not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, 75 00:05:42.199 --> 00:05:45.920 for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your 76 00:05:45.959 --> 00:05:49.670 sins. So they said to him. Who Are you? Jesus said to 77 00:05:49.709 --> 00:05:54.589 them, just what I have been telling you from the beginning. I have 78 00:05:54.709 --> 00:05:58.430 much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me 79 00:05:58.709 --> 00:06:01.589 is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him. 80 00:06:02.629 --> 00:06:06.339 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the father. 81 00:06:08.339 --> 00:06:11.139 So Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the son of 82 00:06:11.220 --> 00:06:14.579 man, you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on 83 00:06:14.699 --> 00:06:18.009 my own authority, but speak just as the father taught me, and he 84 00:06:18.129 --> 00:06:21.730 who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for 85 00:06:21.810 --> 00:06:26.850 I always do the things that are pleasing to him. As he was saying 86 00:06:26.889 --> 00:06:43.240 these things, many believed in him, all men. So one of the 87 00:06:43.319 --> 00:06:48.550 things that we see in this passage, one of the questions that the whole 88 00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:54.189 gospel of John, you might even say the whole Bible, is answering, 89 00:06:54.870 --> 00:07:00.509 is who is Jesus? Right? It comes up again and again. They 90 00:07:00.550 --> 00:07:03.500 are sort of circling around with him in this conversation, back and forth, 91 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:05.980 back and forth. Who Are you? I told you who I am, 92 00:07:06.019 --> 00:07:10.420 you're not listening, and so on and so forth. But those who hear, 93 00:07:11.740 --> 00:07:19.250 those who believe, they receive really wonderful things, eternal life, the 94 00:07:19.370 --> 00:07:29.449 spirit, these things are are tied to him, him not being someone we 95 00:07:29.610 --> 00:07:35.560 imagine, not being someone we speculate about, but Jesus as he has revealed 96 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:42.639 himself. And so for that reason it's important for us to pay attention to 97 00:07:42.680 --> 00:07:48.750 these words, as challenging as they are. In many ways, his words 98 00:07:48.910 --> 00:07:56.709 is he is unfolding and revealing himself, who he is. We must pay 99 00:07:56.709 --> 00:08:01.420 attention because, as the word says, it's by believing in these things that 100 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:07.100 he is saying, that we have eternal life, not believing them as a 101 00:08:07.220 --> 00:08:11.220 set of doctrine that we can just stick in our back pockets, but believing 102 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:16.329 in them, which is to believe in him and trust him for everything, 103 00:08:16.850 --> 00:08:24.089 to find not just a certain ideas about him, but to know him as 104 00:08:24.290 --> 00:08:31.279 he is. Imagine, for example, let's say that you met a family 105 00:08:31.320 --> 00:08:37.440 member that you had not known existed before. Maybe you lost track of and 106 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:39.799 you finally you connect on the internet or something like that. You get a 107 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:43.429 chance to meet them, you sit down with them for coffee and they start 108 00:08:43.509 --> 00:08:48.190 revealing to you who they are. They talk about your family connections, they 109 00:08:48.230 --> 00:08:52.950 talk about their relationships, in their lives. And what, after all this 110 00:08:52.110 --> 00:08:56.700 time and after all this excitement, who is this person? You just start 111 00:08:56.940 --> 00:09:01.139 tuning out? Is Sir whatever. On and on they go, talking about 112 00:09:01.179 --> 00:09:03.860 their life. Right, it wouldn't. No one would. None of us 113 00:09:03.860 --> 00:09:07.500 would do that. Right, we would pay close the tention would do, 114 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:11.289 would ask them questions, we would seek to know more and more who they 115 00:09:11.289 --> 00:09:16.129 are so that we could know them, so that we could be connected with 116 00:09:16.289 --> 00:09:20.970 them, have a relationship with them. If that's true of a long lost 117 00:09:20.129 --> 00:09:24.519 friend or a family member or something like that, how much more true for 118 00:09:24.679 --> 00:09:31.080 the one that all of human history has been waiting for, that God has 119 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:35.840 been promising since the man, since mankind first fell under the curse, that 120 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:41.470 a son would be born that would crush the head of the serpent, that 121 00:09:41.629 --> 00:09:45.789 a son of David would be born who would establish an eternal kingdom in which 122 00:09:45.830 --> 00:09:50.629 God's people would live forever and safety and protection. This Christ, this prophet, 123 00:09:50.990 --> 00:09:54.460 this king, this son of David, the son of Adam, he's 124 00:09:54.500 --> 00:10:01.940 here. It's time to tune in, to pay attention, to listen to 125 00:10:01.659 --> 00:10:05.899 what he is saying. He is revealing himself to us, and that's why 126 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:11.970 we're taking time to read of these long passages, to not just sort of 127 00:10:11.090 --> 00:10:18.169 move through them quickly, but to really begin to see both the big picture 128 00:10:18.970 --> 00:10:24.559 as well as some of the details. Last week we considered this particular detail 129 00:10:24.600 --> 00:10:30.600 about his revelation that he comes from the father, that he is sent from 130 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:35.519 the father. We thought about how this fact that he has sent means that 131 00:10:35.230 --> 00:10:41.669 we have this gift, this gift of love. Jesus was sent not on 132 00:10:41.909 --> 00:10:45.789 a Lark or God was bored and didn't have anything to do. He's not 133 00:10:45.990 --> 00:10:50.259 like the Pagan Gods. He's not like the stories that you hear about the 134 00:10:50.779 --> 00:10:54.899 Greek and the Roman and other gods. Now, Jesus was sent not because 135 00:10:54.940 --> 00:10:58.460 he was bored or he didn't have anything else to do or he wanted to 136 00:10:58.659 --> 00:11:05.850 mess with us. He was sent because he loved us, because God loved 137 00:11:05.889 --> 00:11:11.570 us before even time began. EPHESIANS talks about that and love. We were 138 00:11:11.730 --> 00:11:18.210 predestined for. This adoption in Christ an amazing thing. And here he is, 139 00:11:18.600 --> 00:11:24.000 this gift of love and sending the son. God loved us. You 140 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:28.799 remember that famous first and John, John Sixteen, for God soul loved the 141 00:11:28.919 --> 00:11:35.950 world that he gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not 142 00:11:35.149 --> 00:11:41.870 perish but have everlasting life. We also thought about how this fact that he 143 00:11:41.070 --> 00:11:46.549 is sent from God and the things that he says surrounding that point to us, 144 00:11:46.590 --> 00:11:50.940 or point us to this big fact that John is making in his Gospel, 145 00:11:50.580 --> 00:11:56.620 that Jesus is the son of God, that his sending to to us, 146 00:11:56.740 --> 00:12:03.409 his coming and his incarnation is deeply connected to his to his person as 147 00:12:03.529 --> 00:12:09.289 the One Who is eternally begotten of God, and that our hearing and our 148 00:12:09.370 --> 00:12:15.799 believing in him is the key, is the deciding factor for our relationship with 149 00:12:16.919 --> 00:12:24.919 the father. This is what it means that Jesus is sent and how we 150 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:30.350 are to receive him. Today we consider a second aspect of that work that 151 00:12:30.389 --> 00:12:33.990 Jesus mentions a several times throughout this passage, and it's a theme that will 152 00:12:35.070 --> 00:12:39.309 come up again and again in the book of John, and it's this you 153 00:12:39.470 --> 00:12:43.419 read them. You read these words first in John Thirty three. He says, 154 00:12:45.860 --> 00:12:48.500 I will be with you a little longer and then I am going to 155 00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:52.539 him who sent me. So you hear the connection between these two things. 156 00:12:52.899 --> 00:12:58.059 The one to who sent him is the one to whom he is going. 157 00:12:58.340 --> 00:13:03.330 There is a sending in a going that are connected with one another. I 158 00:13:03.370 --> 00:13:07.850 will be with you a little longer and then I am going to him who 159 00:13:07.970 --> 00:13:09.850 sent me. And he goes on to say you will seek me and you 160 00:13:09.970 --> 00:13:16.159 will not find me where I am. You cannot come. Now he doesn't 161 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:18.639 explain why that is. They're they're asking why can't we come? Is he 162 00:13:18.960 --> 00:13:24.399 going to the dispersion right? Is he going to leave Galilee and go out 163 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:26.990 and teach and do these things out in the rest of the world. That's 164 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:31.230 one idea they had. The other ideas. Is he going to kill himself? 165 00:13:31.389 --> 00:13:35.309 Is that what he means? Is he going to commit suicide? Is 166 00:13:35.429 --> 00:13:41.220 that why he means like where he is going, cannot come? Well, 167 00:13:41.259 --> 00:13:45.980 Jesus tells them later on, as you when as you continue reading as we 168 00:13:46.100 --> 00:13:48.259 did, he tells them what I mean is that I am going to the 169 00:13:48.340 --> 00:13:54.059 father and you cannot come because you do not know him, you do not 170 00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:56.210 know him, because you do not believe in me, and because you do 171 00:13:56.370 --> 00:14:03.490 not believe in me, you will die in your sins. That's what he 172 00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:09.370 means by saying this. Who is this man, they say? Some people 173 00:14:09.450 --> 00:14:11.639 saying this is the prophet that was promised, other people saying this is verse 174 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.360 Forty One, this is the Christ. There's all kinds of confusion about him. 175 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:22.559 Hopefully we can learn from their mistakes, knowing that, with God's help 176 00:14:22.600 --> 00:14:28.149 or without God's help, we'd make the very same ones, but with him, 177 00:14:28.549 --> 00:14:33.710 listening to him, believing him, we can find a better way instead 178 00:14:33.710 --> 00:14:41.259 of resting on our assumptions, instead of simply assuming things about Jesus we hear 179 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:48.539 what he says. Listen to what John says in Verse Eight and Twelve, 180 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:50.620 and then I'm going to pause for a moment and sort of step over here 181 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:58.610 and do a little bracket conversation. Okay, so Jesus explains this in verse 182 00:14:58.690 --> 00:15:03.370 twelve and he says Jesus spoke to them saying I am the light of the 183 00:15:03.490 --> 00:15:07.519 world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light 184 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:13.200 of life. After this he gets into a conversation where they accuse him of 185 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:20.590 having false testimony, but then he picks up that theme when he says Verse 186 00:15:20.629 --> 00:15:24.149 Eighteen, I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the father 187 00:15:24.269 --> 00:15:28.269 who sent me bears witness about me. They said to him, therefore, 188 00:15:28.269 --> 00:15:35.230 where is your father, right here, this location language, where is your 189 00:15:35.269 --> 00:15:39.460 father? Jesus answered, you know neither me nor my father. If you 190 00:15:39.580 --> 00:15:45.779 knew me, you would know my father also. So what we see is 191 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:50.889 that are believing in him is very much tied to our following him, and 192 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:56.169 these questions about him coming, being sent and him going relate to us, 193 00:15:56.769 --> 00:16:00.250 because we follow him. Whoever follows me, he says, will not walk 194 00:16:00.370 --> 00:16:03.960 in darkness but will have the light of life. where I am going, 195 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:11.200 he says to these unbelieving Jews, you cannot come because you are not following. 196 00:16:11.799 --> 00:16:15.039 Do you see how this language is all tied together, the coming and 197 00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:22.230 the going, of the sending and and the leaving, this all and this 198 00:16:22.429 --> 00:16:26.269 relates to us, because we are to his disciples. We desire, I 199 00:16:26.350 --> 00:16:30.269 are, to follow him, we want to go where he goes. I 200 00:16:30.389 --> 00:16:34.059 want to look at some other verses in relation to this before we do this. 201 00:16:34.620 --> 00:16:37.940 I do want to so, like I said, sort of step over 202 00:16:37.940 --> 00:16:44.659 here. Here's a little sidebar. Okay, this is I'm doing this because 203 00:16:44.700 --> 00:16:48.250 of these brackets that you have at the end of Chapter Seven, in the 204 00:16:48.409 --> 00:16:51.809 beginning, going to eight hundred and twelve. You actually have, or sort 205 00:16:51.809 --> 00:16:56.809 of going to have, a bracketed conversation because of these brackets that many of 206 00:16:56.889 --> 00:17:02.039 you have in your Bible's what you'll see there, along with a footnote. 207 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:07.039 So in my Bible here it says in the footnotes some manuscripts do not include 208 00:17:07.359 --> 00:17:11.559 seven hundred and fifty three through eight and eleven, and then it also notes 209 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:17.549 others add a passage here or after hundred and thirty six or after two thousand 210 00:17:17.549 --> 00:17:21.990 one. Hundred and twenty five or after Luke thirty eight, with variations in 211 00:17:22.069 --> 00:17:25.950 the text. In other words, there's lots and lots of inconsistency in this 212 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:30.940 particular passage when we look at the old manuscripts. And so, for that 213 00:17:30.259 --> 00:17:34.980 reason, this gives us a question. How do we consider this passage? 214 00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:40.019 Do we do we take it with the rest all together? Can we be 215 00:17:40.180 --> 00:17:45.329 confident, as someone asked me, that this section is the word of God? 216 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:49.569 And the answer is no. In fact, we can be confident that 217 00:17:49.650 --> 00:17:55.569 it is not the word of God. Now that might feel a little disturbing 218 00:17:55.650 --> 00:17:59.279 because you're seeing it here in a book that you call Your Bible. Right. 219 00:17:59.359 --> 00:18:03.160 Why is this here in the Bible? And so that deserves a little 220 00:18:03.160 --> 00:18:08.839 more explanation. What we have here is what's possibly a true story. That's 221 00:18:08.960 --> 00:18:15.950 possible, which is probably why it was added later on, but there are 222 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:21.069 lots of true things that aren't in the Bible. Our question about this passage 223 00:18:21.069 --> 00:18:26.710 is not whether or not something could have happened, but whether it did and 224 00:18:26.869 --> 00:18:32.460 whether God intended it to be part of his word. The answer in this 225 00:18:32.660 --> 00:18:37.380 case is no, we don't believe it's a part of his word because we 226 00:18:37.420 --> 00:18:41.809 don't believe it's in the original manuscripts. That's why. So it's not an 227 00:18:41.890 --> 00:18:47.250 arbitrary thing based on sort of what's in the passage or there's a doctrine we 228 00:18:47.289 --> 00:18:51.210 don't like or something we're confused about. That's not how we handle God's word. 229 00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:56.279 We ask what were we given, and in this case these words shouldn't 230 00:18:56.279 --> 00:19:03.799 be taken as an errant or infallible because it's not original. It might have 231 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:10.750 a have interest interest to you from a historical or a scholarly perspective, but 232 00:19:10.869 --> 00:19:15.589 it shouldn't have interest to us from a Christian or a perspective of someone looking 233 00:19:15.789 --> 00:19:21.549 to God's word to set their faith on, just as you wouldn't look at 234 00:19:21.589 --> 00:19:23.980 anything else that's not in the Bible. So then, why am I speaking 235 00:19:25.019 --> 00:19:30.859 with such confidence that this is not in the scripture? It's because scholars a 236 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:37.140 unanimously believe that it's our almost unanimously, I suppose there's always somebody who disagrees, 237 00:19:37.740 --> 00:19:41.690 but very strongly, that this is not a part of the original Gospel 238 00:19:41.049 --> 00:19:45.970 God gave us. And I'll share with you three reasons why this is the 239 00:19:45.009 --> 00:19:49.130 case. Very, very briefly. I just want to address this and sort 240 00:19:49.170 --> 00:19:52.759 of move on, but I'm happy to talk about this more with you another 241 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:57.200 time if you like. These three reasons come from a new testament scholar, 242 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:03.279 Bruce Metzger, writing for the Textual Committee of one of the critical additions of 243 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:10.150 the Greek so three reasons very quickly. The first is that this passage is 244 00:20:10.269 --> 00:20:15.549 not found in the best manuscripts, the earliest manuscripts, or a diverse range 245 00:20:15.549 --> 00:20:19.630 of manuscripts. And as the note here and that I read to you and 246 00:20:21.309 --> 00:20:26.619 this Bible suggests, the passage itself, even when it is found, is 247 00:20:26.700 --> 00:20:32.299 not consistently there in the same way. So the pet that's number one. 248 00:20:32.660 --> 00:20:36.529 This passage is not found in the best, the earliest or a diverse range 249 00:20:36.569 --> 00:20:41.769 of manuscripts. The second reason, and I'll quote here, there's a good 250 00:20:41.809 --> 00:20:47.450 baby name for anyone who's looking. Coming up a second no Greek church father 251 00:20:47.730 --> 00:20:52.960 prior to Euthemius Zygabenus. So there's your baby name. No Greek church father 252 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:57.319 prior to you, thin me as Zygabenus. This is in the twelve century. 253 00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:03.509 No Greek father prior to this man in the twelve century even comments on 254 00:21:03.670 --> 00:21:10.549 this passage. And when euthemius declares when he talks about it. He says 255 00:21:11.589 --> 00:21:15.509 that the accurate copies of the Gospel don't contain it. So we don't have 256 00:21:15.670 --> 00:21:19.779 any comments on this passage in the in the eastern church until this time. 257 00:21:21.859 --> 00:21:26.019 And then the one comment it is says that the accurate copies don't have it. 258 00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:30.460 And the third is that the style and the vocabulary are very different from 259 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:33.930 the rest of John's Gospel. You could add a fourth to it interrupts the 260 00:21:33.970 --> 00:21:38.250 flow of the narrative. It doesn't really seem to belong. So anyway, 261 00:21:38.450 --> 00:21:42.410 these are the reasons why we can be confident that that it wasn't part of 262 00:21:42.450 --> 00:21:48.000 the original Gospel but was added at some point in history, and possibly because 263 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:52.960 it was old. But nevertheless, it shouldn't be preached or read as the 264 00:21:52.039 --> 00:21:59.240 Word of God. The good news is that God does not leave us without 265 00:21:59.240 --> 00:22:02.549 the voice of our savior. He doesn't sort of leave us where we don't 266 00:22:02.670 --> 00:22:06.710 we're lacking nothing. In other words, by not I'm having this as a 267 00:22:06.829 --> 00:22:11.789 part of God's word. He speaks to US clearly, speaks to US truly 268 00:22:11.910 --> 00:22:18.220 and he continues what we have in verse twelve. And so let's go now 269 00:22:18.619 --> 00:22:23.500 back off the sidebar back to verse twelve and continue our thinking through this passage. 270 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:30.690 So Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows 271 00:22:30.769 --> 00:22:33.650 me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. 272 00:22:34.769 --> 00:22:40.289 In Verse Fourteen, he affirms this. He says my testimony is true, 273 00:22:40.730 --> 00:22:45.799 for I know where I came from and where I am going. They say, 274 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:48.720 where is your father? He responds by saying you know neither me nor 275 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:51.920 my father. If you knew me, you would know my father also. 276 00:22:52.400 --> 00:22:56.880 What are we to take from this? These words, for one, remind 277 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:02.829 us of the unity between the father and the son. Here's the thing, 278 00:23:03.390 --> 00:23:08.269 and this is very common still today. They claim to know the father but 279 00:23:08.390 --> 00:23:15.819 not Jesus, like we know God, but who are you? Or they 280 00:23:15.900 --> 00:23:19.779 claim to know Jesus but not the father. Hey, we know you. 281 00:23:19.940 --> 00:23:22.940 We know where you came from. Where is your father? Who is your 282 00:23:22.980 --> 00:23:29.529 father? What are you talking about? Jesus says, though, it's impossible 283 00:23:30.130 --> 00:23:36.089 to truly do either one of these things. You can claim to know one 284 00:23:36.170 --> 00:23:37.849 and not the other. Know the father but not the son, or no, 285 00:23:37.970 --> 00:23:41.440 the son but not the father. But Jesus says, it's impossible. 286 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:45.960 You either know both or you know none. Why? Because the father and 287 00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:52.000 the son, though distinct persons, are not divided in their essence. They 288 00:23:52.079 --> 00:23:57.670 are the one and the same God. If one bears witness, both bear 289 00:23:57.789 --> 00:24:06.990 witness. As Jesus has said and is saying, the son is from the 290 00:24:07.150 --> 00:24:15.019 father, Jesus says, and is also one with him. Praise gone. 291 00:24:15.579 --> 00:24:19.299 The son is, the son of God, is not from the father like 292 00:24:19.819 --> 00:24:25.329 a human sons are a human son, my son's, for example. They 293 00:24:25.410 --> 00:24:29.690 have their own will, their own plans, their own power. The son 294 00:24:29.809 --> 00:24:33.849 of God, though, is different. No surprise there. We're talking about 295 00:24:33.849 --> 00:24:38.680 the divine nature. He is creator, not created. He's entirely different from 296 00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:44.039 us. We can't judge him based at we can't judge him or determine him 297 00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:52.000 in human categories. Nevertheless. So how is he different? Well, he's 298 00:24:52.039 --> 00:24:55.269 different at that. The son of God says, as he keeps saying, 299 00:24:55.630 --> 00:25:00.990 that everything that he has, everything that he has, is from the father. 300 00:25:03.869 --> 00:25:07.660 So he has his own will, but it's a will that is from 301 00:25:07.660 --> 00:25:12.660 the father and totally united with him, and therefore one will, and the 302 00:25:12.779 --> 00:25:19.660 father gives all that he has to the son. Now I find this difficult 303 00:25:19.700 --> 00:25:26.130 to understand, but so helpful when I hear the scriptures speak for themselves, 304 00:25:26.170 --> 00:25:30.170 and I hope this is true for you as well. So here's some scriptures. 305 00:25:30.210 --> 00:25:34.289 John Nineteen, Jesus said to them. Truly, truly, I say 306 00:25:34.329 --> 00:25:40.039 to you, the son can do nothing of his own accord, but only 307 00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:44.160 what he sees the father doing, for whatever the father does, that the 308 00:25:44.279 --> 00:25:48.240 son does likewise. So you see the distinction, right, the distinction between 309 00:25:48.279 --> 00:25:52.630 the father and the son, and yet the perfect unity. There's no difference 310 00:25:53.150 --> 00:25:59.150 and no difference. Whatever the father does, the son does likewise. But 311 00:25:59.349 --> 00:26:03.349 also is true that the son can do nothing of his own accord. They 312 00:26:03.390 --> 00:26:10.779 are not the same person, though they are the same God, again, 313 00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:14.180 the words of scripture, God himself. John Twenty One and twenty two. 314 00:26:14.740 --> 00:26:18.849 For as the father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the 315 00:26:18.970 --> 00:26:25.529 son gives life to whom he will. For the father judges no one, 316 00:26:26.130 --> 00:26:33.200 but has given all judgment to the son. John Twenty eight, so Jesus 317 00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:37.359 said to them. When you have lifted up the son of man, this 318 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:40.640 is in our passage today, when you have lifted up the son of man, 319 00:26:40.880 --> 00:26:45.599 then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on 320 00:26:45.799 --> 00:26:52.349 my own authority, but speak just as the father taught me. John Fifty 321 00:26:52.349 --> 00:26:57.549 four, Jesus answered, if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. 322 00:26:59.710 --> 00:27:03.660 It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our 323 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:11.019 God. John Forty nine, for I have not spoken on my own authority, 324 00:27:11.740 --> 00:27:17.569 but the father who sent me has himself given me a commandment what to 325 00:27:17.650 --> 00:27:22.210 say and what to speak. John Thirteen. Three, last one for the 326 00:27:22.329 --> 00:27:29.049 moment. Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands 327 00:27:29.089 --> 00:27:33.720 and that he had come from God, was going back to God. Again, 328 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:37.519 that same language that we're focusing on his coming and is being sent and 329 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:42.079 then is going Jesus knowing that the father had given all things into his hands 330 00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:48.589 and that he had come from God and was going back to God. So 331 00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:52.630 what's the point of this? One implication of this is, do you see 332 00:27:52.829 --> 00:27:59.660 now why we worship the father and the son and not just a generic God 333 00:27:59.940 --> 00:28:03.140 with no reference to either one, or mixing the father and the son as 334 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:08.380 if they weren't distinct? How can we deny a distinction between the father and 335 00:28:08.460 --> 00:28:14.930 the son when Jesus is constantly saying there's a distinction between him and his father. 336 00:28:15.450 --> 00:28:19.170 And yet at the same time, how can we divide the two as 337 00:28:19.250 --> 00:28:26.490 if they were two gods, or or one God and a lesser God or 338 00:28:26.569 --> 00:28:30.039 something like that? How can we divide them when he is constantly saying that 339 00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:34.920 he does everything and has everything, that God, the only true God, 340 00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:41.549 has given him, that the image of God, as Hebrews says, has 341 00:28:41.630 --> 00:28:49.069 been is made manifest in the sun? We I don't mean to neglect the 342 00:28:49.109 --> 00:28:52.670 spirit at all. We will come to him at a later time, and 343 00:28:52.750 --> 00:28:59.460 Jesus brings that up in this passage briefly. His primary focus is on him 344 00:28:59.500 --> 00:29:02.619 and his relationship with the father, which is why our focus is here for 345 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:07.220 the moment. But just just remind ourselves, remember of verses thirty seven through 346 00:29:07.859 --> 00:29:12.049 thirty nine, when Jesus says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to 347 00:29:12.089 --> 00:29:17.130 me and drink. Whoever believes in me out, as the scripture is said, 348 00:29:17.250 --> 00:29:21.529 out of his heart flow rivers of living water. Now this he said 349 00:29:21.529 --> 00:29:26.680 about the spirit whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as 350 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:30.640 yet the spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. 351 00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:37.869 We worship Father, son and Holy Spirit, and not just a generic God 352 00:29:38.150 --> 00:29:45.309 with various names, but we worship the triune God, who is father, 353 00:29:45.789 --> 00:29:52.029 son and spirit, because that's the only true God to worship. That's how 354 00:29:52.190 --> 00:29:56.500 he has revealed himself. This is who he is and that's why Jesus can 355 00:29:56.579 --> 00:29:59.579 say, if you don't know who my father is, you don't know me 356 00:30:00.019 --> 00:30:03.859 and you can't know the father if you don't know me. They are one. 357 00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:08.769 The father, who has given all things to the son in the spirit, 358 00:30:08.809 --> 00:30:14.930 has done so so that we might come to the father through the son. 359 00:30:17.410 --> 00:30:22.079 This unity between God or in between the persons and within God himself, 360 00:30:23.119 --> 00:30:32.839 this way in which we express that God is one perfectly unified, not split 361 00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:40.230 in any way in his essence, and that that communion is characterized by things 362 00:30:40.390 --> 00:30:48.710 like beauty and solidity and perfection and holiness and love, means that when Jesus 363 00:30:48.910 --> 00:30:57.019 offers to us a way to enter into that fellowship with God himself, we 364 00:30:57.099 --> 00:31:03.740 dropped to our knees and we say praise you, O great and mysterious God. 365 00:31:06.650 --> 00:31:10.369 It's why we put all of our life and our hope in Jesus. 366 00:31:10.410 --> 00:31:14.730 When he says in John Fourteen six, I am the way, I am 367 00:31:14.809 --> 00:31:22.559 the truth, I am the life and no one, no one comes to 368 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:30.319 the father except through me. If we want to go to the father, 369 00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:37.309 we must go with Jesus, through Jesus, because you can't separate the two. 370 00:31:37.190 --> 00:31:44.549 You cannot separate the father and the son, because you can't separate God. 371 00:31:48.539 --> 00:31:56.180 These are the bonds of divinity, the divine nature that cannot be separated. 372 00:31:56.539 --> 00:32:00.539 I can barely tie a piece of you know, carefully, rip a 373 00:32:00.619 --> 00:32:07.730 piece of paper into or cut a plant stem easily. There is no dividing 374 00:32:07.930 --> 00:32:22.559 God, and that is how secure your salvation is. What is all this 375 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:28.160 revelation, these great mysteries, this these things that are being revealed to us? 376 00:32:28.279 --> 00:32:30.029 Is it God coming into the world to just mess with our minds and 377 00:32:30.150 --> 00:32:36.190 confuse us? No, he is telling us these things so that we might 378 00:32:36.430 --> 00:32:42.750 hear him and follow Jesus where he goes, so that we might find life. 379 00:32:43.990 --> 00:32:46.339 Those who reject him, the Curse of Eight hundred and Twenty One, 380 00:32:46.339 --> 00:32:51.619 John Twenty one, belongs to them. You will not go. You will 381 00:32:51.700 --> 00:32:58.890 remain here below in your sins until the judgment of God comes on this world, 382 00:32:59.170 --> 00:33:02.210 and then you will die in your sins. But to those who are 383 00:33:02.369 --> 00:33:07.930 lifted up in Christ, who is lifted up first on the cross and then 384 00:33:08.210 --> 00:33:15.559 from the grave and then into heaven. That's you, and that's why Paul 385 00:33:15.599 --> 00:33:20.680 says you have been raised with Christ into the heavenly places. You are seated 386 00:33:20.759 --> 00:33:25.279 with him, who is above, above. Why on Earth, I'm add 387 00:33:25.279 --> 00:33:31.670 about it. I would you put yourself on things that are below when our 388 00:33:31.710 --> 00:33:36.670 sins are forgiven? In Him, just the opposite is heaven. We have 389 00:33:37.309 --> 00:33:42.819 the new man, we are united to his body. And then we have 390 00:33:43.059 --> 00:33:46.980 promises like this in John Thirty seven. All that the father gives me will 391 00:33:47.059 --> 00:33:53.779 come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 392 00:33:55.490 --> 00:34:00.490 Or John Ten twenty nine. My father, who has given them to me, 393 00:34:00.130 --> 00:34:05.529 is greater than all and no one is able to snatch them out of 394 00:34:05.650 --> 00:34:09.719 my father's hand or out of the father's hand. That's how safe we are 395 00:34:10.119 --> 00:34:16.719 in Jesus, that's how protected we are in him. And these promises are, 396 00:34:16.719 --> 00:34:22.880 of course, fulfilled when Jesus is lifted up, first on the Cross, 397 00:34:22.079 --> 00:34:30.269 in this kingly exaltation in which, through suffering and death, he overcomes 398 00:34:30.389 --> 00:34:35.510 our sins. He is a perfect sacrifice and atones for us on the Cross. 399 00:34:36.630 --> 00:34:38.219 And then, finally, as I said before, when he's lifted up 400 00:34:38.260 --> 00:34:44.860 into heaven. Notice that the ascension and Jesus is exaltation. There is not 401 00:34:44.980 --> 00:34:50.059 just sort of like an add on right you have. You know Jesus is 402 00:34:50.179 --> 00:34:52.889 death and his resurrection and you know we're basically done with the salvation story, 403 00:34:53.530 --> 00:34:58.250 Jesus says, and John here what we read. We are not done because 404 00:34:58.289 --> 00:35:02.809 there is no sending of the spirit until I am lifted up. In other 405 00:35:02.849 --> 00:35:07.840 words, Jesus is going to the father. Is An essential part of our 406 00:35:08.000 --> 00:35:13.920 salvation. The church does not get built up into a living temple of God, 407 00:35:14.039 --> 00:35:17.239 as we read earlier in Ephesians, in which the God and will dwell 408 00:35:17.400 --> 00:35:24.389 in the spirit in us, unless Jesus goes. God sends us in love 409 00:35:25.750 --> 00:35:34.869 and then Jesus ascends in love. He doesn't abandon us. He does this 410 00:35:35.070 --> 00:35:39.139 thing so that his spirit would come, so that he can prepare a place 411 00:35:39.340 --> 00:35:44.739 for us. That's what Jesus is doing now. That's why we walk by 412 00:35:44.780 --> 00:35:47.059 faith and not by sight. That's why we don't wander around the world every 413 00:35:47.059 --> 00:35:54.210 day looking for our savior. We know where he is. I'll close by 414 00:35:54.690 --> 00:36:00.929 reading passage from John Fourteen. He speaks to those who do believe in Him 415 00:36:00.929 --> 00:36:06.159 who do follow him and go where he goes. He says, in my 416 00:36:06.360 --> 00:36:09.039 father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have 417 00:36:09.280 --> 00:36:14.400 told you that I go to prepare a place for you and if I go 418 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:19.550 and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you 419 00:36:19.670 --> 00:36:28.150 to myself, that where I am you may be also. Isn't that good 420 00:36:28.230 --> 00:36:35.940 news? Isn't this news about Jesus being sent and even his going good news? 421 00:36:36.059 --> 00:36:39.300 He goes to prepare a place and he says, and if I'm preparing 422 00:36:39.380 --> 00:36:45.579 a place, surely I'm going to come. I haven't left you, I'm 423 00:36:45.619 --> 00:36:52.809 getting things ready, I'm making the place ready so that when I come again, 424 00:36:52.849 --> 00:36:55.650 I will take you to myself, that where I am, you may 425 00:36:55.730 --> 00:37:00.679 be also. This is what it means to be a disciple, a follower 426 00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:07.079 of Christ, to understand him as he is, to believe him as he 427 00:37:07.360 --> 00:37:14.880 is and then to follow him as he is. Praise be to the one 428 00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:21.110 true Tryun God forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray