Jesus said, “I Am the Good Shepherd”

I Am the Good Shepherd

John 10:10-16

Introduction:

Last week we discovered how we are to enter into a relationship with God, “through the door of the sheep.” We noted that it was not the same as the door through which Jesus entered as the Shepherd. He entered by “the door into the sheepfold,” which is the door of fulfilled prophecy. We enter through Him by His Grace, and through Faith. He is the Door of the Sheep.

Jesus said, “I AM the Door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” And we found that we are to enter through Him by means of Faith in His shed blood.

But we walk with Him, “going in and out, and finding pasture,” living in the world, and finding our sustenance and protection in Him, by means of Faith and Obedience. We sing the hymn, “Trust and Obey,” and as we study our Bibles, we find that that hymn is true! There truly is “…no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to Trust and Obey.” So, Who is it that we are to trust and obey? It is Jesus! He is the Good Shepherd.

The people had difficulty with the idea that Jesus entered by the “Door to the sheepfold.” Now they were struggling to understand the idea that they were to enter in “through Him.”

But the next thing Jesus told them, was that He himself is the Good Shepherd. We need to explore what that means.

John 10:10-16

¹⁰The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. ¹¹I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

¹²But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. ¹³The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. ¹⁵As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

¹⁶And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

What defines the Good Shepherd?

When asking what defines a good employee, a good job, or a good automobile, we are usually given a fairly vague list of positive characteristics, But, in discussing those ideas, there usually turns out to be a fairly detailed list of things to avoid. There are negative things to look for in a résumé, neagtive things to look for in a company, or in an automobile, all to be avoided if possible.

When we begin to ask, “What makes a good shepherd?” God gives us both the positive list (in detail) and the negative list (also in detail.) We can clearly see not only that He Himself is that Good Shepherd, (the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd,) but also see what constitutes a good human shepherd in the local assemblies. We see bad shepherds in contrast with God, and we see good human shepherds exhorted to “get on with the job” of tending to the flock. And He explains what that means.

Bad Shepherds

Jesus began by listing the motives and behavior of false teachers, false prophets: bad shepherds. He said that the thieves (who did not enter by the “door into the sheepfold,” which is the fulfilled prophecies) came with evil motives: they came to steal, to kill and to destroy. Ironically, they don’t even have to be “bad people,” to have those motives.

Ann and I knew a pastor who outwardly seemed a fine pastor: He was kind, and friendly and hardworking, and very well educated. But it turned out that he did not believe the Bible is the Word of God, and he taught others to doubt it, too. He was stealing the Grace upon which people needed to rest, and killing unbelievers by convincing them there was no real need for a Savior. Finally, he was destroying the faith of weak believers by teaching them that “much of the Bible is simply mythology.” Jesus specifically warned against that kind of man.

The Contrast

He contrasted His own behavior with theirs, saying first that His motive is different: He came “that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” If you want life, Jesus is where to find it. Then He said, “The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” He said that the hireling, (someone who sees the ministry as “just a job”) is not committed to the flock. If trouble comes, they will not protect the flock, but rather will protect themselves.

We knew a man like that, as well: He had made a serious error on his taxes prior to our ever having known him. But when he got into financial trouble, because of it, he threatened to “Split the church” if we did not bail him out. He had zero commitment to the flock. But Jesus said that He Himself is the ultimate “Committed Shepherd” who lays down His life for the Sheep.

So, short of actually “dying for the flock,” (which is seldom required of pastors,) what else is the human shepherd supposed to be doing? The responsibilities of the human shepherds are laid out most clearly in Ezekiel 34:1-11, where (just as Jesus did) God first shows the behavior of some “bad shepherds,” and then He contrasts it with His Own behavior.

Ezekiel 34

¹And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ²Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

³Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. ⁴The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. ⁵And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.

⁶My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. ⁷Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; ⁸As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;

⁹Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; ¹⁰Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. ¹¹For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out.

Seven Responsibilities of The Shepherds

Feed the Flock
Strengthen the diseased
Heal the Sick
Bind up that which is broken
Bring again that which was driven away
Seek the Lost
Protect from predators (implied in verses 5 and 8…but spelled out in Acts 20:27-30)

God goes on, in the rest of Ezekiel 34, to say how He will take over the job of the shepherd and dismiss those shepherds who were failing to attend to the needs of the flock. Notice, too, that the shepherds in question, were the leaders of Israel, but especially the spiritual leaders.

The “healing” involved (v. 4) is not physical healing, as, except the few prophets through whom God chose to show His authority, the civil and religious leaders of Israel never had the authority to heal diseases of any kind. And, the true Shepherd of Israel is God the Son: Jesus, our Great Shepherd.

The Shepherd of Israel

In Psalm 23 we see the LORD described as the Shepherd, and His behavior toward His flock is described: He is said to “lead us by still waters” (safe places to drink water,) and to “make us to lie down in green pastures. (I am told that Sheep usually only lie down after they are done eating.) And; He restores our souls. So, his primary behavior toward the sheep is to see to their sustenance and their safety…and to meet their spiritual need for a Savior and a Shepherd.

Isaiah 40:11 gives a picture of the Shepherd tenderly caring for His Flock. “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd; He shall gather the lambs in His arms, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead them that are with young.” And Jesus is inviting us to be that flock. We have entered in by faith, but to benefit by the Shepherd, we have to hear Him and follow Him.

What about His Flock?

Looking ahead, in John 10:27, 28, He says, His sheep will be known by Him and will hear His voice and will follow Him. He says, “I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish!” Thehuman Shepherds should be able to confirm that truth, teaching confidently because of the clear promise of God. If they can’t, then they do not believe His Word.

The more we learn about Jesus and the more we see Jesus in the Old Testament, we begin to see that Jesus was always the “Shepherd of Israel.” (Psalm 80:1) When Isaiah says, “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd ….”—it is talking about Jesus! He is the one who cared for them and He is the one who cares for us! In Matthew 23:37-39, we can see that it was always Jesus, down through the ages, sustaining Israel, and grieving over them, as His lost sheep.

So, when Jesus said (John 10:16) “¹⁶And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd…” we can see that He was referring to the Gentiles: this is the beginning of God’s fulfillment of His promises to the Gentiles! This is where we come into the picture! Not that the Gentiles would become Jews, but that both Jewish and Gentile believers would be joined in one new Creation; the Church: the Bride of Christ.

**What does a Good Human Shepherd Look like?**

A good human Shepherd seeks to feed the flock on God’s Word, as that is what God has defined as good “sheep food.” This is the ground rule: feed the Flock on God’s Word!

He Feeds the Flock on God’s Word (not opinions, politics, or philosophy: the Bible!
He seeks to strengthen the believers who have been weakened, either by neglect or by wrong teaching: how? Again, by the Word of God!
He seeks to correct the spiritual illnesses caused by wrong teaching, wrong thinking, and wrong understanding of the Word of God, through sound teaching.
He helps people overcome the spiritual wounds they have received in life and to grow strong, through faith in God’s promises and His wise counsel.
He understands that wrong social interaction within the flock can drive believers away from a church: so, he seeks to bring back those who were driven away, and to quench the unrest, unkindness, strife or bitterness that drove them away.
He seeks the lost, and offers them the same things Jesus offered: Eternal life, “freely bestowed on all who believe.” Salvation, by Grace, through Faith. He helps the new believers grow by feeding them wisely, so that they are strengthened against the temptations of the World and against the ravages of Satan’s influence. He teaches the whole counsel of God’s Word.
He seeks to thus defend the flock against predators, the false teachers who have plagued the church since the very beginning of the church age. When false teachers attempt to divide and destroy the flock, he is quick to “confront the Wolf,” so as to safeguard the flock. He does not turn a blind eye to predators.

He is in constant fellowship with The Chief Shepherd (Jesus) and with the other human shepherds in the flock, not seeking preeminence for himself. He seeks to raise up faithful men and women to serve God with their lives and to imitate the Great Shepherd in all things.

How do we find such people?

There is no way we could recognize these traits in any person who we don’t know very well. No letter of recommendation, or well-crafted résumé, could ever hope to replace getting to know a person well enough to see all these things in action, as a living reality. That is why we are told to raise up leaders from within the church, not to call for résumés. (2^nd Timothy 2:2; Titus 1:5.)

We see all of these characteristics and behaviors demonstrated flawlessly in Jesus, and the longer each of us knows Him, the more we see the perfection of His character. A human shepherd will never be perfect. Personal humility and a clear recognition of one’s own shortcomings and flaws go a long way toward overcoming those flaws, as the human shepherd, pastor, elder, submits himself to Jesus and allows the Lord to live through him, thus overcoming the natural weaknesses of his own humanity.

How Should We Respond?

On a personal level, as individuals, our primary goal is to develop and maintain a proper relationship with Jesus, the Chief Shepherd. He said, “My sheep hear my voice…and they follow me.” That is where we need to start: hear His voice, coming from the written Word of God, and follow Him, in faith and obedience. Then He is free to work in each of our lives, and to build His church as He promised.

Lord Jesus, quicken our hearts to hear Your Voice in the Scriptures, and to Follow the Leading of Your Holy Spirit, so as to learn to walk with You in obedience. Raise each of us up as Your true disciples, and raise up shepherds from within Your flock so that the church will be strong, shining for You in this dark world, offering Life to those who are dying.

October 8, 2022October 8, 2022

“I AM the Door!” The Door of the Sheep:

I am the Door of the Sheep: “I AM the Door!

John 10:6-9

Introduction:

⁶This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

⁷Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

⁹I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Jesus had just described himself as the true Shepherd who entered by way of the “Door into the Sheepfold,” presenting Himself to the doorkeeper, “the Porter,” as the true Shepherd, evidenced by the fact that he entered by the correct door.

We saw that the door into the sheepfold represented the fulfillment of prophecy; Jesus fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies regarding His genealogy, His place of birth, the nature of His life and ministry, and, eventually, His manner of death and His resurrection, specifically after three days and three nights. We saw, in fact, that the fulfilled prophecies, (in many cases supernaturally fulfilled) collectively, are the Credentials of God, and the Pedigree of the Messiah.

Another Door

Now Jesus says, “I am the Door of the Sheep.” Notice He did not say, I am the “door into the Sheepfold.”

Jesus entered by the “Door into the Sheepfold:” the fulfillment of prophecy…all of it!

But the Sheep do not enter by that “door.” We enter through Jesus. Jesus had a very high “bar” to pass in order to enter as the Shepherd. Ours is easy: Jesus calls and we enter by faith, through Him, as the Door of the Sheep.

The invitation is open: “I am the Door: if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” We are to enter through Jesus, and then walk with Him. Remember, in verses 3 and 4, He said that He leads His sheep out. (Out where? Out into everyday life!) We still have to live in this world: Jesus wants us to walk with Him, and He will lead us to where He wants us, and feed us there.

Jesus said “I am the Door of the Sheep”

Perhaps it is important to note that the invitation is not only “inclusive,” in the sense that “whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” But it is also “exclusive,” in the sense that only those who believe in Him, placing their trust in His shed blood, can enter through this Door! And there is no other door.

Please turn in your Bible to Romans 3:25. In Romans 3:25… (Speaking of Jesus, he says,) “²⁵Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,”

Paul makes a quiet point, which is echoed all through the scripture, but which is “spelled out” here: Jesus satisfied the Righteousness and Holiness of God (That is what “propitiation” means: “satisfaction of God’s Righteousness”)…But how? It becomes a working reality “through faith in His Blood.”

There is nothing we can “do,” on our own, to seize upon His sacrifice, nor to “earn” God’s Grace. Grace is specifically unearned favor. What Jesus accomplished at the Cross was to open to ALL people, the way into God’s presence. But the way to enter in is by faith in His blood. Not by adherence to His commands, but by faith in His Blood.

Faith is how we enter in, and how we are saved!

Obedience is how we walk in fellowship with the living God.

By a New and Living Way

(Please turn in your Bible to Hebrews chapter ten, verses 19 and 20.)

In Hebrews 10:19, 20 we see this truth laid out in very stark, plain terms.

¹⁹Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Take note of several key words and phrases:

Brethren…enter…into the Holiest…by the blood of Jesus
Through the veil…His flesh.

Remember that the veil in the Temple, which blocked the way to the Holy of Holies, was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died, thus opening the inner sanctum, the Holy of Holies. Here in Hebrews 10:20, we see that the veil was a “picture” or a “prefiguring” of Jesus’s physical body: That is, until His body was offered as a sacrifice, and His Blood was shed, the way to approach God was still closed.

At His death, the way to approach God was opened. But we still enter in through that one way: “through the veil…His flesh.” And we enter in by one means: “by the blood of Jesus.”

We are still saved by Grace (it is never something we can earn.) and we are still saved through faith (this is the means by which we lay hold of the promise: we believe it!) But the faith is specifically to be in Jesus’s shed blood, as we saw in Romans 3:25.

**What was “New and Living” about this “Way?”**

We (all of us) enter in often, continually… via a living Savior; whereas, in the Old Covenant, only the High Priest could enter, and only once a year, and always with the blood of a freshly sacrificed lamb. And the sacrifice could not take away sin. Only Jesus can take away sin.

Look at Hebrews 10:4, while we are still in Hebrews: It says that it was not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin. Animal sacrifices cannot take away sin: they never could. They provided a temporary covering, through faith, looking forward to the Cross. But when John the Baptist introduced Jesus, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the Sin of the World!” That is new!

How many “doors” are there? Two Gates:

Another word for a “door” is “Gate.” Jesus pointed out two gates, in Matthew 7:13, 14.

Matthew 7:13, 14 “¹³Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

The Narrow Gate

The Narrow gate is Jesus, and His blood sacrifice. It is wide enough to include anyone who is willing to trust in Him for salvation, but it excludes all who try to enter in by some other means.

We can see only one name on this gate: there is only room for one. Acts 4:12 says, “neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven, given among men whereby we must be saved.” That was Peter, speaking to the Jews, regarding the Name of Jesus. Philippians 2:10, 11 says that a time is coming when “at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess…to the glory of God the Father.”

Jesus: That is the Name on the Narrow Gate.

The Broad Gate

But the Broad Gate has lots of room, and the name of every other “way” is posted there.

Going back to John 10:8, we see that Jesus said all the other “saviors” who parade themselves as the “way” to God, or who claim that “all ways lead to the same God,” are “thieves and robbers.”

Now, that sounds harsh, and judgmental, doesn’t it? But you want to remember that this is Jesus, God in the Flesh, warning us that there are enemies in the world and that the result of following those enemies can be eternal loss.

Theives and Robbers!

There was a fellow named Jim Jones, back in 1974, who claimed to be a savior, but he taught communism, and by 1978, he had moved 900 of his followers to Guyana where he forced them all to commit suicide, and those who resisted were shot to death. They had entered in by the broad gate, following someone who specifically had rejected Christianity: Jim Jones threw his Bible down, publicly saying, “You don’t need the Bible! You need me!” And they all died!

There was another fellow, before him, who called himself “Father Divine” and claimed to be God. There have been hundreds down through the years, who have made similar claims. Some were famous, like Sun Myung Moon, and Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. Others were less famous, like Roy Masters, of Oregon, who claimed he “could do no wrong.” But all of their names comfortably fit on the “Broad Gate.”

Some are not even names of people, but rather, of organizations, churches, creeds, secret societies, clubs, world views, etc. That is really not an important difference: Either you ARE placing your faith in Jesus, and His shed blood; trusting in His completed work at the Cross, or you are not! If you are not, then you are attempting to enter by the “Broad Gate.” And there are countless names there!

But Jesus is the only name on the Narrow Gate…He is the “Door of the Sheep.”

**“Oh, but, that’s Narrowminded!” (But, is it?)**

This is a point of contention to a lot of unbelievers, as they immediately begin to complain that this is an unreasonable restriction; it’s very “narrowminded,” and that “all the millions of other ‘religious people’ can’t all be wrong!”

Unfortunately, truth is not determined by a vote: things either are true, or they are not. As an example: all of us depend on oxygen, every moment we live. No one sees fit to rebel against that, or to complain that they ought to be able to live in a pure helium environment, or any such thing they choose.

Embrace Reality!

We are aware of many things that are “just the way it is,” where arguing doesn’t help. Some such things we cheerfully accept, others regretfully. We appreciate gravity, most of the time, but we don’t like that fact that we all die. Yet both are universally true. We have to embrace reality!

Jesus truly is God’s only provision for the salvation of the Human race. If you think that is a “bad thing,” you can argue with Him about it, if you want. But do bear in mind that He doesn’t “owe” us anything! Throughout our history as a Race, we have consistently rebelled against God, our Creator, at every step of the way. We only get worse, not better, and we still think that though God provides our very lives, and all our sustenance, we don’t need or want Him to have anything to do with directing our lives. We want to be our own boss!

God’s Choice

So, the amazing thing, to me, is that He chose to offer us His Grace at all. It does not surprise me that there isn’t a “grab-bag” of different ways to approach Him, or a “smorgasbord” from which we can select the things we want, and reject the rest. God is Holy! He is the Ruler! There is no other God, and He does not owe us a thing! It is amazing that He offered us anything at all! But it leaves us with a choice.

Our Choices

We can choose to be eternally safe with Him, trusting in His promise, or we can choose to be eternally separated from Him, in our rebellion and unbelief. Those are the choices.

Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

He does not “demand” that you do anything: He only invites you to enter.

In John 14:6, however, Jesus makes a claim, that we must not ignore: Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”

So, when you (or anyone you know) is making that choice, it is important to know that Jesus said “no other way will lead you to God.” You can accept that, or reject it: but that is what He said.

Sebsequent Choices

Once you choose to believe, and enter in by the Door of the Sheep (Jesus) you are eternally His, and He invites you to walk with Him, in faith and obedience, reaping the blessing of that ongoing relationship. Sheep need the Shepherd: In the next verses we will see how Jesus presents Himself as that Good Shepherd.

But for today, we will stop with just knowing the choice that must be made. Some of you have sought to share your faith with others. Perhaps these things we have read today will help you to do so.

Lord Jesus, open our hearts and minds to the urgency of the Gospel, so we can see the vital need to make good choices, and to begin by choosing Life in Christ. Then help us to make choices that honor You and that cause us to shine as lights in this dark world. Glorify Yourself through Your Church.

September 24, 2022September 24, 2022

The Shepherd Enters by the Door into the Sheepfold

The Shepherd Enters by the Door

John 10:1-6

Introduction:

John chapter nine ended with a statement of Judgment. John chapter ten offers two of the “I AM” statements. The first two messages go together, but they use the same word in two different ways: In verses 1-6 Jesus said that the true shepherd enters by the “door into the sheepfold,” and He refers to a “porter” who opens the door.

¹ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. ²But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. ⁴And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. ⁵And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

⁶This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

Differing Terms

But in verses 7-10, Jesus said that He Himself is the “Door of the Sheep.” And in verses 11-18, He affirms that He is the Good Shepherd. So, in order to access the meaning, we have to ask some questions.

Evidently, the “Door into the Sheepfold” is not the same as the “Door of the Sheep.” But perhaps the first question would be “What is the Door into the Sheepfold?” and the second goes right along with it: “Who is the Porter?”

What is the Door into the Sheepfold?

Jesus is about to declare Himself to be the Good Shepherd, in verse eleven…and that means He must have entered by way of the “Door into the Sheepfold.” It also means that there must be another way to come in, declaring oneself to be the Shepherd, and that whoever comes by another means (however many there are) must be identified as a thief and a robber.

How might one declare himself to be the Messiah, the “Shepherd of Israel?”

The few times when someone claimed to be the promised deliverer, they obviously did not measure up: They fell short one way or another. That continues still today. There have been self-anointed “messiahs” of every stripe, every so often, for centuries. I looked online to see how many have made that claim, and found that at least fifty people apart from Jesus Himself, have made such a claim, in the last two thousand years.

Did they Enter by the Door?

One thing these fifty all had in common was the fact that they did not fulfill the prophecies regarding the Messiah. There were many clear (and many rather obscure, but still valid) predictions as to the coming Messiah: And, they all had to be fulfilled in the same person. (I have been told that there are over three hundred such prophecies in the Old Testament.)

Not a Smorgasbord

God’s prophecies did not constitute a “smorgasbord” from which a claimant could “select as many as he could manage,” and thus proclaim himself the “anointed one.” They all had to be true on the same person! Here are just a few:

Place of birth: Bethlehem Ephrata (Micah 5:2)
- But He was also “called out of Egypt” (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:15) and called a Nazarene. (Matthew 2:23)
Lineage:
- Descendant of Abraham (Genesis 22:18)
- Descendant of Jacob (Numbers 24:17)
- Descendant of Judah (Genesis 49:10)
- Descendant of David, (2^nd Samuel 7:12-13; Luke 1:32) but
  1. Not of the line of Coniah (“Jehoiachin.” Jeremiah 22:24-30, cp Matthew 1:12)
- Son of God (Luke 1:35)
Virgin Born (Seed of Woman Genesis 3:15, and Isaiah 7:14)
Born into poverty, arrives as the King, riding upon a donkey (Zechariah 9:9)
Sinless Life (Isaiah 53:9)
Heals the sick, set free the captives, proclaims the Gospel (Isaiah 61:1, 2; Isaiah 35:4-6)
Healed the Blind, Healed lepers (Psalm 103:3…”all their diseases!”)
Crucified; hands and feet pierced (Psalm 22:1-18)
Died with the criminals, (Isaiah 53:9) but
- Buried in the tomb of the rich, (Isaiah 53:9)
Stayed dead for three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17; Matthew 12:39, 40)
Was resurrected (Psalm 16:10; Isaiah 53:10-12)

“Entering by the Door”

Notice that very few of these could be “self-fulfilling prophecies.” No one but God has a choice in their own place of birth, nor the gene pool from which he will spring. But God predicted, thousands of years in advance, the source of the Messiah…and protected his forbears so that the promised Messiah could arrive on time, in the right location, and into the right family.

Seed of the Woman

Clear back in Genesis 3, He predicted the birth of one who would be (specifically) the Seed of Woman (not of Adam, Abraham, or whomever…) and would undo the damage of the Serpent.

Jesus was not only the “Seed of the Woman,” in the sense that it was a truly miraculous birth, without a human father: He was also specifically called out as being God in the Flesh… Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:23)

Place of Birth

A human cannot choose his own place of birth. God predicted Bethlehem Ephrata, in Micah 5:2. But Joseph and Mary did not live in Bethlehem, of Judea. They lived in Nazareth, of Galilee. So, God provided that they should be forced to take a “road-trip” at just the right time so that Mary’s firstborn should be born in Bethlehem. The Caesar decreed that everyone must travel to their ancestral home, to complete a census and pay a tax. So, they got to Bethlehem at just the right time.

Genealogy

The Messiah had to be the Son of David, but could not be the son of Jeconiah… “Coniah”… “Jehoiachin.” If we read the genealogy in Matthew 1, we find that Joseph was of that cursed lineage. Joseph could not be king, and if Jesus was his son, then Jesus could not be king either. But Jesus was Virgin-Born of a woman who was also of David’s lineage, but not that of Coniah. He had the legal tie through Joseph, but the blood tie through his mother, Mary.

Other Circumstances

His parents fled to Egypt to escape Herod. And God called them back after Herod died. So, God had literally “called His Son out of Egypt.” And as they returned, they moved back to Nazareth, where Jesus grew to adulthood, and he was called a Nazarene, thus fulfilling one more prophecy. (How many of these prophecies, so far, look like something a person could “self-fulfill?” Remember; Jesus was still a toddler when all this happened.)

Many later prophecies were fulfilled in a way that might tempt us to say, “Well, see, it says right here, that he did this ‘to fulfill prophecy.’ That means he was fulfilling them on purpose!” (Well, sure; but I could want to fulfill prophecy, and want to heal blind people, or lepers, all my life, but I can’t! I just don’t have the power or authority to do it!) Jesus did so to prove His authority, and His power, and to fulfill prophecy so that no one could say, “Hold it! He is not doing what God said He would do!”

He did exactly what God said He would do! He entered by the Door!

But, Who is the Porter?

I remember being taught that the “Porter” was John The Baptist, because he opened the way before the Lord, and pronounced Him to be the Lamb of God who would take away the Sin of the World. And, in a sense, he did function as the “Porter:” the Forerunner who announced the coming of the Messiah, and “Opened the Door for the King,” saying “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, and make His paths straight!”

On the other hand, many teachers have (correctly) argued that apart from the Holy Spirit, John could do nothing…so, the Holy Spirit must be the true Porter, not only making the Way, but opening the hearts of many in Israel. I can accept that, but John at least made some official announcements, pointing to Jesus as the True Messiah, and the Shepherd of Israel.

Other possibilities

Some have even suggested that Moses was the Porter, as the prophecies in the Torah all pointed to Jesus, and the Law forced the realization of our need for a Savior. I don’t see that as a logical answer, though. There isn’t a good enough connection. (And some teachers try to say, “…it really doesn’t matter!” But if it was important enough for Jesus to say it, it’s important!)

However, God is clearly the ultimate “Porter,” as He works through people, and manifests Himself by His Holy Spirit. But none of the “Potential Porters” listed above would have opened the door to the “wrong person.” The Door was the prophetic record. Fulfilled prophecies, throughout the Bible, are the Credentials of God. They constitute the Pedigree and the Divine authority of Christ. And whoever we think the “Porter” may be, He only opens to the One who comes via fulfilled Prophecy and comes in the Name of the LORD.

Jesus came, fulfilling those requirements, and He proved who He was throughout His life.

Calling the Sheep

The next verse says that, when the Porter opens to the Shepherd, the Shepherd begins calling out His sheep.

“…and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. ⁴And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. ⁵And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”

⁶This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

I can see how the people might not understand this parable. I have a hard time with it myself. Part of the problem, for me, is that I am not a “shepherd in the Middle East.”

Knowing the Sheep

I saw a video about a Palestinian shepherd boy. The interviewer asked (through an interpreter) how many sheep, or goats, perhaps, he actually had. The child cheerfully shrugged and admitted that he didn’t know. (The interpreter explained that he probably did not know how to count.) But the next question was, “If you don’t know how many you have in your flock, how will you be able to tell if one is missing?”

The child responded incredulously, as if the question was ridiculous: “Because I know them all! I would know immediately if one were missing!” He saw that the answer was obvious. We do not see it as obvious, because we can barely tell one sheep from another. We have never learned to know them as individuals and care enough about them as individuals. If we did, then we would know when something is wrong, or when one is missing. But that is how the Shepherd knows us, as His sheep!

The Sheep Follow the Shepherd’s Voice

Two friends of mine, at separate times, told how they had taken a trip to Israel, and each of them had been in a taxi or some other vehicle, waiting while two flocks of sheep crossed their road in opposite directions at an intersection: Both related how they felt dismayed, thinking the two flocks would be mixed so badly that they would be hours getting them separated.

But both watched in amazement as the two shepherds cordially greeted one another, but went about their business, leading their respective flocks through the other flock. They just kept calling, and their sheep knew their respective voices and utterly ignored the voice of the other shepherd. The flocks flowed through one another, with hardly any resistance, and became two separate flocks again, as they parted.

Follow your Shepherd

Jesus calls us, and we are expected to know His voice, and to follow Him. He came by the Authority of His Word. He came by the Door of fulfilled prophecy. We are to listen to His voice, through His Word and in Prayer.

2^nd Peter 1:19 tells us that the Written Word of God is to be our “light” until the Lord returns. God says that is how we learn to “know His voice,” and not be led astray. We want to learn to know His voice to the extent that the voice of a stranger, a false shepherd, would cause us to flee. We must not follow the leading of those who do not “Enter by the Door:” …those who fail to lead by the Word of God.

Human Shepherds Have the Same Responsibility

Notice, too, that, just as Jesus had to fulfill all the prophecies, the human shepherds He sends have to be preaching the whole Word of God. It all has to fit together. As we said, earlier, this is not a “smorgasbord” where we can choose what portions we believe. It either is God’s Word, in its entirety, or it isn’t!

Teach the Whole Counsel of God

In Acts 20:27, speaking to the Ephesian Elders, whom he had trained, Paul pointed out that he had faithfully preached “all the counsel of God.” He had treated all of the Word of God honestly and had not just preached private “hobby-horse” doctrines. He had taught the elders, to whom he was speaking, to see God’s Word as a unit… as a continuum of truth, beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation, but with one core theme: the Person of Christ.

As a shepherd, I take this warning very seriously: I do not have the freedom to supplant God’s Word with my own opinions. If I don’t know what His Word means, I say so. If I have ideas about what it might mean, but no real assurance that my interpretation is correct, I say so. But, I do not just “skip” passages, unless there is a specific reason, and I will be coming back to complete what I skipped. I want to faithfully teach the whole counsel of God.

The Flock is to Listen for the Voice of the Shepherd, as Well

So, we see that Jesus has warned us to look carefully at the credentials and behavior of the persons proposing to teach. Are they “entering by the door to the sheepfold?” Or are they coming some other route, that seems attractive, but is not in keeping with the Word of God?

When we first heard His voice (John 10:27, 28) inviting us to faith, and we followed Him in faith, Jesus gave us Eternal Life as a gift—and we can never lose it: He promises that we shall never perish.

Called to Follow

But we are called to follow him in faith as a daily way of life, as well. Our lives are to be transformed by His Word. It says, “he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.”

Each of us, individually, is called to walk with Jesus, reading His Word, praying, learning from our teachers, but always, listening for His Voice.

May the Lord help us to Hear Him clearly!

Lord Jesus, focus our attention on Your Word, by Your Spirit, so that we can follow in Your Steps. Teach us to avoid the teaching and temptations of the World, and to grow in strength as your disciples, to be your hands and feet and voice, shining Your Light, in this dark world.

September 17, 2022September 17, 2022

For Judgment I am come into this World

John 9:39-41

Introduction:

Remember, as we read this passage, that Jesus had just healed a blind man, who had been born blind. He had miraculously given the man his sight. The man had suffered persecution, not because he was healed, but because he credited Jesus with the miracle. And they cast him out of the synagogue….essentially, he was excommunicated for confessing that Jesus had healed him, and for refusing to recant.

When Jesus found him again and introduced Himself as the Son of God, the man spontaneously worshipped Him. We still have people today who resent those who worship Jesus…or anyone who prays to Him. They reveal their hearts by that attitude. They reveal what they think of Jesus. And the next verse is what Jesus said in response:

³⁹And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.

What a strange thing to say! And: who was He talking to? His disciples were there with him…the healed man was there…and some Pharisees were there. Those are the only ones we know of, for certain.

Consider the overall context: Jesus has been under attack all day and the previous day as well. He dispersed the men who wanted to stone the woman caught in adultery. He introduced Himself as the Light of the World. He nearly was stoned by the Jews when He announced His own eternality, and the fact that He preexisted Abraham. Then, immediately after miraculously escaping the mob in the temple, he went out of His way to heal a man who had been born physically blind.

This Blindness was not Judgment

The disciples asked Jesus whether that man or his parents had sinned, to bring this “judgment” of congenital blindness upon the man. Jesus said that neither had sinned…God had prepared this man for the purpose of showing His own mighty works. (Unlike Bartimaeus, this man had not even asked to be healed. He knew nothing about Jesus before this day.)

But this man, once he understood who Jesus really was, fell down and worshipped him! He was not only healed of his physical blindness, but also the spiritual blindness of his soul was taken away. He saw Jesus for who He was!

Jesus is remarking the irony that: His presence gave sight to the blind, but also revealed the blindness of those who rejected His light. Remember John 3:19 “And this is the condemnation; that light is come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” The people had an issue with light, there, too.

Blindness Can be Judgment for having Disregarded light

Samson and others ignored the light of God’s direction and His Word, and, in Samson’s case, he was physically blinded by his enemies and enslaved by them.

Romans 11:25 also records that “…blindness in part has happened to Israel.” The majority of the Jews at that time, and ever since that time, have rejected the Gospel of Christ. The few who believed at that time (along with the Jewish proselytes saved at the day of Pentecost,) became the foundation of the church. And they taught the gentile believers who were saved a short time later.

Biblical historians say that the Roman centurion Cornelius (in Acts 10) received the Lord about seven or eight years after the events in Acts 2. I have no scriptural proof of that time passage. All we know is that the church was well established before the Gentiles (as Gentiles, not proselytes), were entering the Body of Christ in any significant numbers. (In Acts 13, we saw the first “mostly Gentile” assembly, and it caused a great deal of controversy, dealt with in Acts 15.)

Blindness happened to Saul

When Saul of Tarsus was confronted by Jesus on the Road to Damascus, two things happened: He was struck to the ground, along with the others in his group, and he was struck blind. Three days later, Jesus sent another disciple, Ananias, to restore his sight… and Saul changed his name to Paul. His physical and spiritual blindness had been healed, and He saw Jesus for who He was.

The rest of Israel remains partially blinded, to this day, and Paul grieved their loss, in Romans 9:1-3. But God promises to restore their sight, as a nation, and they will see Him, physically, and, for the first time recognizing Him for who He is. Zechariah 12:10 says “…They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and shall mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and be in bitterness for Him as one is that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

For Judgment I am Come

Jesus had earlier said that He had come to save the lost. But, in the same verses (John 3:18, 19) He had said that condemnation was already there in the World. He said, “He that believeth not is condemned already…and this is the condemnation… that light is come into the World, and Men loved darkness rather than light.”

Many people have taught, for years, that “if you don’t stop sinning, you’re going to be condemned!” But the truth is, you can’t stop sinning, and you are already condemned! The whole human race was in this same trap of sin…every single one of us was guilty and lost.

How did we get there?

Romans 1:21, 22, tells us how that happens. “When they (the human race) knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

By choosing darkness, we were filled with darkness, and we perpetuated our role as children of darkness. All we were really doing is confirming what God had said from the beginning. He said “In the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die!” Adam ate, and all his progeny (including Eve) were instantly plunged into the darkness of sin: spiritual separation from the Light of God.

Jesus is the Light of the World

His presence revealed the hearts of everyone who came in contact with Him. Those who rejected light, rejected Him. Those who yearned toward the light, turned to Him in faith. Even today, the same truth applies. The Light of Christ appears in the World, through his servants, the believers, and the people will either turn toward that light, in faith, or they will reject that light, and even attempt to extinguish it.

The Blindness of “Religion”

Romans 2:19 tells us that the Jews saw themselves as being “…a light of them which are in darkness.” But Judgment was about to fall on them, because in truth, they were the opposite of a “light to those in darkness:” They shrouded the light with their corruption, and their hypocrisy, to the extent that no one could see the Light of God in them at all. And they tried to extinguish the Light of Christ when He was there among them. They revealed who they were!

⁴⁰And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? ⁴¹Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

They were not the Only Ones

It would be easy for us to just sneer at the Pharisees and say, “Yeah, those bad old Pharisees!” But the fact is, we are always in danger of doing something similar! We can become so self-satisfied and smug in our “good doctrine,” or our “healthy church,” that we completely close ourselves off from the unsaved world to whom we are sent as witnesses.

At that point, we are no longer allowing the Holy Spirit to reach out through us to the world around us. At that point we are “just a bunch of religious folk.” That is what had happened to the Pharisees, and to a certain extent, to the entire nation of Israel. They were a “very religious” people, but they denied the reality of the Love and the Power of the God they claimed to serve.

A Modern Example:

I visited a church, a few years ago, that had become so ingrown and exclusive, that, when a shabby-looking stranger arrived at their door, they literally didn’t know what to do. (I was the “stranger,” driving a beat-up old Toyota, and wearing clean, but older, inexpensive clothing.)

The “greeters” looked like “deer in the headlights,” clutching their church bulletins against their suit-clad chests. They stood and stared at me, but they did not greet me at all. They never offered a handshake, or asked my name. Never offered me a bulletin, or asked whether I knew the Lord: they said nothing. As ambassadors, they had become irrelevant. They were probably “nice, God-fearing people,” but they were having zero positive effect on the people around them. No one would come back for another visit, after that sort of reception!

Judicial Blindness

The Pharisees had become blind to the light of God. That was Jesus’s judgment of them: He revealed their true blindness. The church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:19) as a group, had become blind, as well, and Jesus shut them down! On an individual one-on-one basis, He still invited them to fellowship with Him, but as a church, they were completely shut down.

Because the Pharisees still claimed to “see,” and even claimed that they saw better than others, they were under the Judgment of God. In John 5:22, we see that Jesus, as God the Son, is the Judge of all the Earth, and He is the One they were rejecting and slandering!

Coming Judgment

They didn’t know it, but, less than 40 years later, the entire temple and everything they held precious would be destroyed. Through a series of bloody revolts, over a period of 70 years, during which hundreds of thousands were killed, the nation of Israel eventually ceased to be a nation, and was renamed “Palestine” by the Romans, in an effort to exterminate the memory of Judaism. It stayed that way until 74 years ago, when it was reborn as “Israel,” on May 14^th, 1948. But the blindness still remains, today.

The Job of the Church is to Represent Jesus

We are called to be Ambassadors of Christ…we are to represent Him before the World. But, how we apply God’s Word in our daily lives and how we respond to others because of His presence in our lives will determine the result of our service.

We are told to testify to His love and His Grace, and to demonstrate His Love and His Mercy. We are told to become His hands and feet, and to be His voice, speaking His Righteousness and Love into the ears of the lost World.

Communion

When we partake in communion, we testify before one another that His blood was shed for us, and that we are trusting in His Grace, and looking forward to His return. But the result of that Sacred Relationship should be that we willingly, voluntarily reach out to the people around us, too. This isn’t all about us! Jesus’s agenda reaches out to the whole world.

Changed Lives

The result should be that we desire His righteousness and His wisdom. That we want to see our lives transformed, to be like Him. We should be concerned that the light of His presence is not dimmed because of the “grime” of our lives. The sin in our lives should grieve us as deeply as it does Him. We should want what He wants.

As ministers of the light…servants of the light, we need to make certain that the light we shine is clean and clear. We mentioned some time ago that the headlamps of a vehicle can become so encrusted with road-grime that the light burning within seems very dim as seen from the outside.

Clean Lives

We want our lives to be clean enough and clear enough that anyone looking our way will see the light of Jesus. We are supposed to “Glow in the dark.” We are told to “shine as lights in a corrupt nation.” No nation in history has been completely free of corruption, but God’s people are to shine in the midst of that darkness. We are commanded to draw people to Jesus: (not “to church:” to Jesus!)

We are called to “smell like Jesus.” The Fragrance of Christ is to be emanating from our lives at all times. The only way that is going to happen is if we allow Him to live through us, and allow His presence to permeate our lives.

As we celebrate communion together, please be thinking about what that may mean, to allow Jesus to live through you.

Lord Jesus, we know that we are blind to so much of the truth of God. We yearn to experience Your light in such a way that it transforms us into Your likeness. Let us be true children of the light, and not limit Your light in any way.

September 4, 2022September 4, 2022

One Thing I Know: I was Blind. But Now I See!

John 9:1-38

Introduction:

In a way, today’s message could be categorized as “Apologetics”—defending the faith.

Or, it could be called Evangelism, as in giving one’s testimony.

It could be about Persecution, because the fellow in this chapter who gave his testimony was excommunicated from the temple and publicly condemned for the completely factual and honest testimony he offered.

Or, we could simply see it as the history of a man, who was born blind, and who, after many years of blindness, was given his sight. In that case we should ask at least three questions:

What happened, Where did it happen, and Who were the witnesses?

John 9:1-38 (Where did it all happen?)

“¹And as Jesus passed by,…”

(Passed by, where?) In the previous verse, John 8:59, we see that Jesus was just leaving the temple. The Pharisees had attempted to stone Him, but somehow, He walked away without their attacking Him…and it says, He “passed by.” The next verse says, “and as he passed by…” So, wherever he was, it was evidently quite near the temple.

“… he [Jesus] saw a man which was blind from his birth. ²And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

Possibly the blind man was begging just outside the temple. That was a common way for a blind or crippled person to seek sustenance, in that time period. (We see it also in Acts 3:1-3.) And, in verse 8, here, it says that had been the practice of this particular blind man. Whether or not he was begging when Jesus and the disciples saw him, is not important.

First Witnesses

So, to begin with, we have at least Jesus and His disciples as witnesses to what happened next. (So far, we can’t count the blind man, as he can’t see them.)

But the disciples asked whose fault it was that he should be born blind. To us, this seems a strange question: But to people who thought that all sickness is a judgment from God, it seemed a logical question.

There are people, still today, who think that “If you are living right, then nothing bad will happen to you.” But Jesus made it clear that bad things can happen to good people (Job was a prime example!) And, in the Psalms it was made clear that good things often happen to bad people. They often get rich by evil means, in fact. (Read Psalm 73) But they will face judgment, the same as everyone else, and God has not forgotten their evil.

Jesus gave a clear answer to His disciples: “Nobody was “at fault!” This was not punishment. In this particular case, God was about to receive great glory by demonstrating His power..

³Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Jesus reminded them that He was the Light of the world: (He had just told them that, earlier the same day.) And He commented that while he was in His earthly ministry, His light was the only obvious source. But, He also said the night was coming.

⁴I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

He was probablywarning that no one continues working after they die. We can only “shine” for the Lord while we live. Every one of us faces the end of our “working day.” We have been given a job to do, and we will run out of time. Jesus knew His time was short: We need to see our lives in that same light. My bestunderstanding is that this is what He meant. So, what did He do?

What Happened?

⁶When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, ⁷And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.

Jesus spit in the dirt, and made “mud,” as we would call it. He made mud, and wiped it all over the man’s eyes. Then He gave three commands:

“Go” and
“Wash”
“In the pool of Siloam,”.

The name “Siloam” means “sent”…was this an admonition that we (also) should go where the Lord sends us, and do what he commands? Or, as some commentators feel, was it a reminder that Jesus was sent from God?

I guess it could be either. But the result was that the man did “go where he was sent,” and he did “obey by faith”…and he came back seeing completely normally. So, now he is a witness, too! He knows what happened, and though he couldn’t point out the Man who healed him, because he had never seen Him, he knew his name. He knew the Name of Jesus! That is worth something all by itself.

More Witnesses!

⁸The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? ⁹Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. ¹⁰Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? ¹¹He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. ¹²Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.

The neighbors and other people were “witnesses,” too,”but all they saw was the result. They knew he had been blind before. They could see the change in the man’s life, as it was obvious that his eyes were healed. But they could not understand what caused the change. (They knew the “before” and the “after,” but they had no idea what had happened to him.)

They asked him for an explanation, and he told them in very plain language exactly what had happened, from his own perspective. That was his first testimony, and it was perfect!

This is a perfect example of what we are commanded in 1^st Peter 3:15! They asked, he was ready, and he gave a straight answer! There was no “messing about” with human storytelling. Everything he said was the simple truth, without any “embellishment.” And what did the neighbors and other people do? Did they throw a party and celebrate with him and his family? Nope. They dragged him off to the Pharisees, for an investigation!

¹³They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. ¹⁴And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. ¹⁵Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

Here is another “sabbath day healing! Jesus seemed to do it on purpose, to expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Over and over, Jesus healed on the sabbath, and they were offended every time! But they couldn’t escape that they were now witnesses, too! They saw only the effect…they did not know him before, and they rejected all testimony from others.

¹⁶Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.

Even the Pharisees could see there was a problem: The one group said, “He must be a ‘bad guy!’ He’s working on the sabbath!” The other group said, ”How can a ‘bad guy’ heal the blind??” There was a division among them, because the Truth was staring them in the face, and they were rejecting it! So, they went back and began questioning the healed man again.

¹⁷They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.

The only possibility the healed man could think of, is that anyone who could heal like that must be a prophet of God. He had just been made the recipient of a first-class, “Old Testament-style” miracle! And the only people who could do such things, according to scripture, were prophets of God!

¹⁸But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. ¹⁹And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see?

Of course, the next step is to accuse the blind man of lying: that he had not been blind at all! If there were no other witnesses, this would not necessarily be a bad thing to suspect. But all of the neighbors, and other people who brought him in, could testify that they had seen him for years, begging near the Temple…and that he had indeed been blind. But that wasn’t good enough! They dragged his parents into it!

²⁰His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: ²¹But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. ²²These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. ²³Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

So, they called in the man’s parents…how strange! (Now, some commentators suggest that the “man” was simply “over thirteen,” thus, having passed his Bar Mitzvah, he was “legally able to give testimony.” They see that as why he was legally “of age,” but still under his parents’ authority.

I would remind you that, in Exodus and in Numbers, the people under twenty were considered children, and not old enough to be counted in the census, or to be a part of the collective decision to reject God’s offer of the land. So, everyone over twenty at the time of that rebellion, died in the wilderness during the next forty years, and all those who remained were, after that period of time, “of age.”)

My guess would be that the man was at least 20, and possibly thirty, as there were certain public responsibilities a man could not partake in unless he was at least 30. (That is why Jesus did not begin His public ministry until He was 30.)

God lets us see the “inside story,” here: He tells us why the parents were afraid to back their son in his testimony. They were afraid of being kicked out of the temple! (Besides, they did give honest testimony: “Yes, that is our son! Yes, he was born blind! Beyond that, we have no idea what is going on, here! You will have to ask him!” Yes, they were afraid of the Pharisees, but they also were being completely honest and logical.)

²⁴Then again called they [the Pharisees] the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner.

They were commanding the healed man to recant, and to agree with their claim that Jesus was not the One who healed him! They accused Jesus of being a sinner!

What was His Defense?

²⁵He answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see.

This is the “bottom line” testimony of every believer. Jesus saved me! Jesus has changed me! (“I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see!”)

A personal testimony always has that advantage: it is hard to argue with someone’s personal experience, though it is possible that a person could be mistaken or even lying. In this man’s case, all he could tell them was, “Look, fellows! I was born blind! Today is the first time in my life that I have ever seen anything! You can say what you want about Jesus, but he healed me!”

It seems the man was beginning to catch on, regarding the politics involved, here: From this point forward, his answers begin to take on a different flavor. They have “crossed a line,” in his mind, and he begins to “push back” a little, defending his own testimony: defending his faith!

²⁶Then said they to him again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? ²⁷He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? will ye also be his disciples? ²⁸Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. ²⁹We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.

This is another odd line of attack. “We know about Moses (whom we have never seen, but we have read about him in the Torah.) But this man we know nothing about…so he must be bad!”

³⁰The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. ³¹Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. ³²Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. ³³If this man were not of God, he could do nothing.

Isn’t it interesting that a formerly blind beggar is given enough wisdom to “walk the Pharisees through” the logic they needed to figure out the Origin of the Power of Jesus!

He offered three points of fact, and a conclusion. The facts::

God doesn’t hear sinners!
If a man is a worshipper of God, and an obedient servant of God, God does hear him.
No one in the history of the World has ever healed the eyes of one born blind.

His Conclusion:

“If the man were not of God, He could do nothing!” (It’s odd: they didn’t respond well to his little “Lesson in Logic!”)

Rejection!

³⁴They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out.

Yeah, proud people don’t like getting “schooled” by people they consider inferior to themselves. They get pretty huffy about such things. And, since they were in a position of power, they “pulled rank” and had him excommunicated from the temple. I’m sure that hurt him, emotionally. He had just received the biggest blessing of his life, and the result was that he was rejected by his community. But he had at least a rudimentary knowledge of Jesus: He had “been through something” with Jesus!

Knowing Jesus

³⁵Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

This is kind of a touching scene: Jesus went and found the man he had healed. He had never seen Jesus before, and had only once heard his voice. Jesus probably found him feeling pretty discouraged…dejected…depressed, maybe. But he asked whether he “believed on” the Son of God. It means “do you place your faith on the Son of God?”

³⁶He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? ³⁷And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. ³⁸And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.

He worshipped Him! Jesus willingly received the worship of this man and others! That only leaves about three possibilities:

He is crazy, and he thinks he is God. Or…
He is an incredibly audacious Liar, and wants other people to think He is God. OR…
He really is God!

This man finally made the connection that this was Jesus: the one who had healed him. And he suddenly knew that there was another possible person who could heal, other than just a “Prophet of God:” (Of course!) GOD can heal a man who was born blind! Jesus had his total respect and gratitude before, when he thought Jesus was “just a Prophet.” Now Jesus has the man’s faith and devotion and love. Now the man knew Jesus was God!

What about Us?

There are all sorts of lessons we can learn here: One is that we need to have our eyes opened by Jesus. Also, we need to know from His Word how we were born again,. We also need to be ready to give an answer and able to say, “He saved me!” Finally, it behooves us to at least be able to offer some defense of our faith. Even if it is just the simple statement that “I believe in ‘the Jesus of the Bible!‘ There is no substitute for Him.”

Lord Jesus, open our eyes, so that we can see as this man did, how you have healed us of the sickness of our souls, and set us free from our slavery to sin. Let us speak to Your glory.

August 27, 2022August 28, 2022

“Before Abraham Was, I AM”

Before Abraham Was, I AM

John 8:51-59

Introduction:

Last week we examined the concept of “finding freedom in Christ:” finding ourselves freed daily from the continuing destructive power of sin in our lives, as well as gaining permanent freedom from the eternal penalty of sin. We were able to determine that only believers were eligible for either of those two aspects of freedom. And it follows that only people who have been freed from the penalty of sin, so that they no longer face condemnation from God, will also find the eternal freedom from the presence of sin, which will be enjoyed by all believers.

Security in Eternal Freedom

So, the eternal freedom from the penalty of sin, which was granted to you the moment you believed, is yours forever. The eternal freedom from the presence of Sin, is also ours, guaranteed, in the presence of the Lord, but we will not experience it in this life: so long as we still possess our sin natures, the presence of sin and the problem of sin will persist.

But the freedom from the power of sin, experienced in our lives today, is what Jesus was inviting the believing Jews (in verse 30) to learn and experience. He told them that if they continued in His Word, they would become His true disciples: He told them that they would experientially know (“ginosko”) the Truth (which turned out to be Himself) and that He would make them free. We saw that concept reiterated in verse 36, where He said that the Son would make them free.

Rejecting Freedom and Dishonoring God

We also saw that, while the believing Jews may have rejoiced in His promise, the Pharisees who were also precent, were offended by His promise of freedom.

Jesus spoke to them, saying that if they had been “of God,” (as they claimed to be) they would have received Him and honored Him, because He was of God. But since they were not of God, they could not receive the words He spoke. And they dishonored Him, in spite of His truth.

**Who do You Honor?**

John 8:48-50

⁴⁸Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? ⁴⁹Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. ⁵⁰And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.

One has to consider, even as a believer, whether one’s words and actions honor the Lord. Years ago, a man who professed to be a believer, and even a bible teacher, suggested some rather “Madison-avenue” ways he advocated for the church or for missionaries to raise money for the ministry. I expressed my feeling of repugnance toward such actions, and he replied, “The bottom line, Chet, is that it works!”

What is the “Bottom Line,” for Believers?

I was still uncomfortable with that reply, but, as he was much older, and in a position of some honor, I kept my thoughts to myself, as I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was bothering me. Hours later, as his comments echoed in my mind, I realized, that whether something “works” or not should never be the “bottom line” for believers.

The “bottom line,” for believers, has to be the question, “Does it Honor God?!” It has never been the church’s mission to make money, and things that “smell like the World” should be viewed with deep suspicion, and considered very carefully, before engaging in such practices. There are many practices which, while perfectly legal, are still immoral, and never honoring to God.

The people to whom Jesus directed this rebuke were not believers. They claimed to be followers of God: they were the well-respected “pious businessmen” of their day: the “religious professionals,” just short of the priesthood. But they were deliberately dishonoring a man who was honoring God with His life.

That behavior revealed who they really were! We need to carefully avoid doing anything like this, for whatever reason. We don’t want to “trash-talk” other people, whether for political reasons or any other reason. It does not Honor God to do so.

Honoring God through Obedience

Jesus did not seek glory or honor or wealth. He sought to carry out the directives of the Father. Remember John chapter 4: When Jesus entered Samaria, and stopped while the disciples went into the city of Sychar to buy food, he was already on the edge of behavior the Jewish leaders would hate. When He publicly held a conversation with a Samaritan woman, He was crossing the line! Even His disciples were astonished at that behavior! But His motivation became clear, when He said, “My food is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work!”

Jesus had not been trying to gain social standing, or the favors of the religious authorities. He was not seeking His own honor, either, but rather, that of the Father. And there in John 4:1-42, the immediate result was the salvation of many lost souls in Sychar.

Had the Pharisees realized that Jesus sought no personal honor, but sought only to please and honor God, it should have changed their attitude toward Jesus. But they hated Him and just wanted Him silenced. They were absolutely not interested in what he was teaching, except that they felt it constituted a threat to them.

If a Man Keep My Saying, He shall Never see Death

John 8:51-53

⁵¹Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. ⁵²Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. ⁵³Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?

Jesus made the “blanket statement” that whoever kept His word would never die. The Pharisees now seized upon His promise of eternal life, and said again that Jesus must be demon-possessed.

They pointed out that Abraham and all the patriarchs and prophets were dead. Their point was that if all the “greats” of the faith had died, what was He claiming for himself?

How could He promise that if someone kept His Word, they would never die?

The Promise of Eternal Life

Remember, back in John 3:16, Jesus had promised that “whoever believed in Him would not perish but would have eternal life.” Again, in John 5:24, He had said “whoever heard His word and believed on Him who had sent Him, had eternal life immediately.” In John 4:14 and John 7:37, 38, he had promised the indwelling Holy Spirit, who would become a “fountain of living water, springing up within the believers.” So, this was nothing new, really. But they seized upon His Word, and challenged Him again.

⁵⁴Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: ⁵⁵Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

So, Jesus took them back to the issue of Honor: He said, “if I were to honor myself, it would be valueless.” But He said that the Father was honoring Him. He reminded them of what He had told them earlier, that they did not have a relational knowledge of God, but that He Himself did have that personal, relational, and experiential knowledge of God. He concluded that if he were to knuckle under and imply that He was no different than they, not knowing God, personally, then He would make Himself a liar “…like unto you!” (It is starting to get personal, here!)

Before Abraham Was, I AM

Jesus went on to say that the patriarch Abraham had rejoiced to see my day” (the day of Christ.) Abraham was a prophet, and he had seen the coming deliverance. He had rejoiced, to see that day coming. Further, Abraham had seen Jesus, face-to-face! (Remember the meal of beef, bread and butter, and milk?) He had conversed with Him personally, and addressed Him as the Judge of all the Earth! But Jesus only said,

⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

Abraham knew Jesus, walked with Him, obeyed Him. and rejoiced in His promises and presence.

⁵⁷Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

Of course, the Jews were incensed by that statement, too, and they derided Jesus, saying, “You aren’t even fifty years old, yet! How can you claim to have seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

What did Jesus Mean?

Now, in today’s English, we might have simply thought it was bad grammar, and that Jesus was failing to maintain the correct past-tense in the sentence. He began by saying, “before Abraham was” (which clearly is a past-tense condition) but ended by using a strictly present-tense statement of self-existence. (Did the Jews question His grammar?)

Nope! They took up stones, intending to stone Him to death, for what was clearly blasphemy. They knew Jesus was using the eternal “I AM,” by which the Old Testament God had identified Himself to Moses. They saw that He used it as if He Himself were God! And, the fact is, that is exactly what He was doing! The Pharisees had no question about His intent! They knew that He had just claimed to be the God of Israel!

Seven statements in St. John

When Jesus had earlier claimed to be the Light of the World, they had missed the point: They did not realize that, for Him to be the Light of the World, He had to be the light of the Gentiles as well as the Light of Israel. He had to be far more than just a carpenter and an itinerant street-preacher.

When He had claimed to be the “Bread of Life that came down from Heaven,” they were offended, but still did not make the connection that He was claiming to be not only their sustenance but their sustainer!

This is only the beginning, as there are five more heavy identifiers which He will use in the Gospel of John, regarding Himself. But this one makes His overall intent very clear: He definitely is claiming to be the God of Israel, in the flesh, and is confronting them face-to-face!

And that is how they understood it, too! Couldn’t they have applied Isaiah 7:14, where the prophecy reads that the child born of the virgin shall be called Immanuel? (meaning “God with us!”) But they gave no thought to whether what He said was true: they only wanted to silence Him and to kill Him. That proved all His estimation of “who they were” and “what the intent of their hearts was,” to be clearly the truth!

⁵⁹Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

They still were not able to carry out their murderous intent. He was still the One in control, and His time had not yet come.

Who are We dealing with, here?

I think we tend to forget who Jesus really is, ourselves. Though we never slander Him, we seldom think of Him as being identical to the God who parted the Red Sea and drowned the entire Egyptian Army. We seldom see Jesus as the One who spoke the World into existence, and who created everything in it, completely by His own authority, and from His own, limitless imagination.

And, even when we briefly consider these things, we may momentarily rejoice at His creativity and power, but we still feel free to “go do our own thing,” whenever the notion hits. Somehow we still feel that we are “free moral agents,” and that we are under no absolute obligation to follow the will of our Creator, Savior, and God. (But we are under just that obligation!)

What Manner of Man?

When Jesus calmed the storm, the disciples in the boat had feared for their lives before He acted, but they were more afraid, afterward: They asked, “what manner of man is He, that even the wind and the waves obey Him?”

And yet, after He had stated His will for their lives, and after His death, burial and resurrection, most of them (in John 21) had decided to go back to commercial fishing. Jesus called them away from the fish for the last time, and redirected their thoughts to His command.

After they received the Holy Spirit, in Acts chapter 2, they seem to never have lost sight of the objective anymore. They all seem to have faithfully walked with Him after that.

So, What about Us?

Each of us already has been born again. Each of us already has been indwelt by the Holy Spirit: So, why are we still so easily distracted? Why do the things of the world so easily entangle us?

In Hebrews 12:1, 2, the writer begs us to consider all those that have gone before us, and take their example:

Hebrews 12:1, 2,

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ²Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The great cloud of witnesses he mentions are the whole group named, or alluded to, in the previous chapter. It was not that they are “watching us”, as “witnesses” of our behavior, but rather, that they have all testified to us. They testify as witnesses of what God can do in the lives of believers who are committed to His will. And, on the basis of their testimonies, he commands us to “lay aside every weight.”—”Get rid of anything holding you back, just as a competitive runner would lay aside any heavy clothing or baggage, in order to run well.”

What is Holding You Back?

But he also calls us to lay aside the “sin that so easily besets us.” What is there in our lives that regularly trips us up? What passions do we regularly obey, that are detrimental to our obedience to Christ? These are questions for self-examination. I point no finger at anyone, except myself. And yet, the command is there for us all to see.

Finally, He commands us to “Look to Jesus, the Author and finisher of our faith.” Take Him for our example of commitment and obedience. He says that it was “for the Joy that was set before Him” that he “endured the Cross, despising the shame” of that Cross, and, as the eternal champion, He has “sat down on the right hand of the throne of God” the Father.

Get in the Race!

He calls us to emulate His example: not just sit on the sidelines, and wave flags and cheer. We are to enter the race ourselves and run!

The Pharisees to whom He spoke were his enemies. Most of them would never believe in Him. But there were believers in the group, and those were the ones to whom He extended the invitation to walk with him and learn from Him, and be set free from their sins by His power in their lives.

That invitation has been extended to us, as well. We need to answer that invitation daily, follow Him, and reap the benefits He promised.

Lord Jesus, stir our hearts to follow You, and to follow Your example. Teach us to look for Your will, and listen for Your voice, Teach us to read Your Word, seeing Your face in the pages, and obey Your commands faithfully. Make us the Men and Women of God You have called us to be.

August 20, 2022August 20, 2022

Finding Freedom in Christ

John 8:33-47

Introduction:

We addressed the issue of discipleship last week, but only the fact that Jesus wants us to transition from just being His offspring, having been born again into His family. He asks that we grow up, into full-grown mature sons, who can actively follow Him in true discipleship.

He concluded by saying that they would know (experiential knowledge—”gnosko“) the Truth, and the Truth would make them free. We determined that, since the word He used for “know” was the experiential “gnosko,” as opposed to just knowing a fact, that He was inviting them to learn to know Him, through an ongoing, permanent relationship, and that that relationship would set them free. But, the Pharisees found this promise offensive. They said that they were already free, and always had been!

Freedom From What?

³³They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?

Now, they were talking utter nonsense! It was denial of the silliest kind: Why? Because, as they spoke, they were currently a slave-state to Rome, and they had been enslaved to other enemies, listed in scripture, at numerous times throughout their history! But Jesus did not address their political history. Jesus addressed the real issue: their Spiritual Slavery.

What Does His Name Mean?

Go back and see why Jesus was named “Jesus,” in the first place: in Matthew 1:21, the Angel of the Lord commanded Joseph that he would “…call his name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their Sins.” (This promise adressed the reality of original Sin! It was a more precious promise than the promise of the land, or the promise of the kingdom!)

Save His people from what? The Roman government? Some “internal political danger?” No, it was far more basic and powerful than that: the entire Human race has been enslaved to Sin, and, through sin, we are also enslaved to the fear of death, ever since the Fall of Man in the Garden of Eden. The Law of Sin and Death has shown every single one of us to be enslaved to sin, in all ages, through every culture.

Who are His People?

He came to save His people from that slavery! So, who are His people? We can pretty much guarantee that those who originally heard that promise would have assumed He meant them: the Jews! (“Well, obviously, WE are the people of God!”)

But; remember the earlier chapters of John: who did we see Him claim as “His people?” He claimed the believers, not only there, but throughout all History! Before the Jews existed, He claimed the believers! In every country, He chose believers! Naaman, the Syrian, became a believer, and God accepted him. The thief on the Cross became a believer, and Jesus accepted him. Abraham, who lived three or more generations before the name “Jews” was ever used, believed God, and God credited it to him as righteousness.

And, yet, as we read those histories, we see that those individuals were not “free from sin.” They still sinned. Some of them sinned a great deal!

What does Jesus mean, then?

“Positional truth versus Conditional truth” may be part of the answer: God said that in the believer’s case, He would no longer remember their sin. That is true, but it isn’t very satisfying, by itself: we want a practical freedom from sin.

³⁴Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. ³⁵And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. ³⁶If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Conditional Slavery

So, here, Jesus begins to answer that question: He said whoever “practices sin” is a slave to sin. The King James Version translates that word as “commits”…we use the word “commit,” to indicate any single offense. (Either I have or I have not “committed” a crime.) But that word “poiōn” is almost always (353 times) translated “do”, and only nine times is translated “commit.” And, in this particular passage, it is a present tense, active verb: it is someone practicing sin in the “continuous, present-tense” sense of the word.

So, while positionally, I am no longer a slave to sin, the warning is, that when I exercise my will to practice sin, then I have placed myself back under the authority of my old sin nature, and I have again become currently enslaved to it. My condition is terrible at that point, but my position is still unchanged.

Positional Freedom

The people to whom Jesus actually was speaking were positionally free already, because they had already believed in Him (see verse 30.) The Pharisees who were rebelling against His words were positionally enslaved: they had never laid claim to Jesus as their Savior: they did not believe in Him.

He offered that practical freedom only to those who believed, according to verses 31 and 32…He tells us, as believers,that we can walk in holiness and obedience. How? By immersing ourselves in Him! By continually building that relationship, and with it, the relational, experiential knowledge of the God we serve, we allow the Son to make us Free! That is what sets us free! An unbeliever can’t walk with Him at all! That offer can’t even be made to them, except in the smallest sense. If they chose to know Him as their Messiah—their Savior—then they would have been positionally clean; Positionally free.

Spiritually Enslaved

But the unbelievers were not qualified to even begin that journey! They were truly enslaved to Sin. They proved it by their response to the Light that He was shining into their lives. Jesus had already warned them that unless something changed, they were going to die in their sins. He went on to address the Pharisees as a group:

Who is your Father?

³⁷I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. ³⁸I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.

Jesus said that He, Himself, was imitating His father: and that they were failing to do so, because they were imitating their spiritual father, whom He has not yet identified.

³⁹They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham. ⁴⁰But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham.

The Jews claim Abraham as their father…so do the Arabs! And both are technically correct, in terms of physical genealogies! Abraham was the father of Ishmael, through Hagar, and he was the father of Isaac, through Sarah. And, relationally, it wasn’t doing either group a bit of good! Neither group is emulating their physical forefather, Abraham.

You are acting like your Father!

Jesus pointed out that they were not acting like Abraham’s children. Abraham demonstrated real faith in his life, and, when confronted with Melchizedek, he accepted Him for who He was, and he brought an offering. Jesus revealed that they were not acting like that, thus they must have a different father than whom they claimed.

⁴¹Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.

Now they increased the stakes, and claimed God as their Father! So, what is wrong with that? I have lost count of the number of times I have had someone tell me, with great piety and dignity, that “Everyone is a Child of God!” (Well, we are about to discover that it is simply not true!)

Physical Behavior reveals Spiritual Parentage

⁴²Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

Response to the Light reveals Character

⁴³Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

You are probably getting tired of hearing me repeat J. Vernon McGee’s story about the animals’ responses to his lantern, in the barn: they reacted differently to the light, because they were different inside. The rats fled from the light because they were rats, creatures of the night, and they saw the young man with the light as their mortal enemy. The birds in the rafters sang when they saw the light, because they were creatures of the day; creatures of the light, and they thought the lantern was sunrise!

Spiritual Heritage

Jesus said that His detractors were behaving just like their spiritual father.

⁴⁴Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

He said their spiritual father was Satan, and that their incompatibility with truth (and therefore light) as well as their insatiable desire to kill anyone who called them on their sin, were the evidence that proved their parentage. They were at that moment (and repeatedly) showing themselves to be liars and murderers. I remember the first time I read this, thinking, “But Satan never killed anyone!” Then I realized that when he convinced Adam to sin, he killed the entire human race! Yes, Satan was a murderer from the beginning! The question is, what are we going to do about our spiritual heritage?

Why Did they Not Believe?

⁴⁵And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. ⁴⁶Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?

When the woman caught in adultery was accused, in verses 1-11, Jesus dismissed the accusers by suggesting that whoever was without sin should cast the first stone. Here, He did no such thing: He simply challenged them to make the accusation. (“What sin am I accused of? Which of you can rightfully accuse me?”) Then He pressed it further, saying, “and if I have been telling the truth all along, why have you not believed Me?

We are uncomfortable with this exchange, because it accuses us as well. (If I know that God’s Word is true, then why do I still rebel against it? Why do I not agree with it across the board?) The problem is that I still sin: I still have a sin nature, and I am prone to deciding, “Well, this is ok! This is small! I can do what I want, here! I’m the one in charge right now!”

Who is in Charge?

But that sort of thinking has no real stopping point: once I decide that I can rebel against the truth, there is no logical stopping point. I declare myself to be the Sovereign in my little sphere, and I effectively attempt to “evict God”…or, at least, “dethrone” Him!” At that point I am as surely enslaved to sin as if I had never been saved!

The only saving Grace is exactly that: Saving Grace. I have peace with God, in the sense that He will never again treat me as His enemy. But I do not have the Peace of God! I am not experiencing that love-relationship that He promised would free me from my sin. Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said,

⁴⁷He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

The Pharisees were proving their parentage. We, as believers, need to carefully consider what we are demonstrating: In our lives, every day, we have choices to make. How we make those choices at least shows “who is on the throne” in our lives. Our old Sin nature is still there, and it will still “take charge” if we allow it. It will then manifest itself in our resulting behavior. We will behave in a self-centered manner, thinking primarily of how things affect us, rather than how we can affect others for good.

How I respond to God’s truth, as a believer, demonstrates my condition: am I in fellowship with God, or am I just living the self-willed life?

Peace and Freedom are for Believers!

Jesus spoke to the believers when He made the promise of Freedom! Peace with God can only come to those who have received Gods Grace. The Peace of God can only come to believers who are in fellowship with Him and are living in His Grace.

You have to decide. I have to decide, moment-by-moment and day-by-day, “Will I choose to experience His Peace, and His Freedom from the tyranny of Sin in my life?” The Freedom He promised only comes as we walk with Jesus in faith and obedience. Yes; as born again believers, we belong to Him. But we still need to live as His disciples, by Faith and Obedience..

Lord Jesus, we desire to be free from our slavery to sin. We desire to experience your Peace and Your Freedom. Free us from our sins and teach us to walk with You by Faith. Teach us to Obey by faith. Teach us to Love by Faith. Make us your disciples in Truth.

August 14, 2022August 14, 2022

If Ye Continue in My Word, then are Ye My Disciples, Indeed!

If Ye Continue in My Word

John 8:30-32, 36

Introduction:

We can see that, in the previous verses, there was a division forming amongst the Jews. The “better educated” (and proud) Pharisees, along with the Scribes, the Levites, and the Priesthood all tended to reject Jesus: He wasn’t one of them!

The less-educated, usually less prosperous people, because of the miracles, were increasingly aware that He was actually doing something. There was substance to His ministry! The other leaders “talked a good fight,” but mainly excelled in taking the money and the flocks of the poor.

Jesus was actually teaching people to know God. The Priests, the Scribes, and the Pharisees said that was what they were doing, but in fact only laid heavier and heavier burdens of Law-keeping on the people. That only left them further away than ever, knowing their inability to walk in the Holiness of God. But Jesus pointed out, in front of all the people, that the Scribes and Pharisees made no attempt to lift that load themselves. (Matthew 23:4 “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”)

As a result of this division growing among them, many of the people had begun to truly believe in Jesus (verse 30.)

³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him.

But notice the change in verse 31.

Speaking to Believers

Jesus is no longer speaking to unbelievers: He is speaking to believers! This is an important shift: To the unbelievers, He had just warned, “Ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins.”

But to these new, baby believers, He had a different admonition: He did not warn of a coming judgment, but rather exhorted them to move forward from being just believers, and to become disciples.

³¹Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Being born again does not guarantee that a person will become a disciple; a follower of Jesus. We are called to follow Jesus. We are called to be obedient to His Word. We are called to feed on His Word, as newborn babies nurse hungrily to obtain their mother’s milk. (1^st Peter 2:2)

We are called to continue in His Word: press on to maturity, following Him as dear children, but growing as we feed on His Word, to become the mature believers He calls us to become, teaching others, functioning as ambassadors, and shining as lights in this dark world.

What happened when they believed? What changed?

Back in John 1:12, we saw that people who believed on His name became children of God. In John 3:3, and John 3:14-16, Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he (Nicodemus) was born again, he was not going to enter into the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus was confused by that, so Jesus reminded him of the account of Moses making the bronze serpent in the desert. (You can read all about it in Numbers 21:5-9.)

He was told to hang it up high on a pole, so everyone could see it. God’s promise was that if anyone was bitten by one of the thousands of deadly snakes He had sent to punish them for sin, they were to look to that serpent on the pole and they would not die. They were still sinners; they still had the bite marks on their leg, but they were not going to die of that bite. Jesus explained to Nicodemus that, in the same manner, those who looked to Him in faith, would escape the eternal judgment of God.

Changed Permanently

When we first believed, the judgment of eternal separation from God in the lake of fire was permanently lifted and we became children of God. That has permanently put you into the family of God. But if you want to be a working part of the “Family Business,” reaching out to see precious souls rescued from that final judgment on sin, then it requires that you get out of your “comfort zone” and follow Jesus!

Peter was called several times, before he finally broke free from his old life and faithfully served Jesus. John Mark was rejected for service by Paul, because of an uncommitted life: Because of unreliability. But “Uncle Barnabas” stepped in, took John Mark under his wing, so to speak, and made a disciple of him. (You can read all about that in Acts 15:36-39. Incidentally, John Mark is the fellow we know as Mark, the writer of the Gospel according to Mark.) You see, people have to grow into being a mature disciple. They aren’t “born that way,” as a rule.

Position versus Condition

The position of these believers changed forever, the moment they placed their faith in Jesus as their Messiah. They were permanently saved, just like the thief on the Cross. But once that position has been secured, the focus changes.

Throughout a pregnancy, all of the mother’s family and friends are solicitous for the health of the mother and baby, and a safe delivery. Once the child is born, however,the focus begins to change! Now they are watching the child grow and develop into a walking, talking, strong and mature human being. They feel joy to see that child increasing in size, strength and ability.

Jesus was refocusing their attention on the next step: Becoming disciples. Their position in His family was secure forever, but in order to see and understand that security, they needed to begin feeding on the Word and walking in the Word and Growing in the Word. That would change their condition.

They would grow into a knowledge of Christ that was more and more full. Then they could know the freedom from fear and the confidence that comes with a stable walk with God. They could become free of the entangling sins that once tormented them. Your condition can change, for better or for worse. Your position in Christ is secure forever, from the moment you trusted Him as your Savior.

Knowing the Truth

³²And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

This verse has been misused by believers and unbelievers alike, for different reasons. The believers claim that if you know (as a fact), that the Bible is true, then you will be free (from the ravages of sin.) The unbelievers say the opposite, that if you know (as a fact) that the Bible is a collection of myths and fairytales, then you will be free from the slavery to a mythical God.

The issue, in both cases, is that the word in this verse, which has been translated as “know,” is a form of the Greek word “gnosko.” It specifically means a relational, growing, experiential knowledge of a person or a concept…not simply “accepting something as a fact.”

Jesus was inviting the people to get to know Him! Verse 36 confirms this, saying “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Later on, Jesus will confirm that He, Himself is the Truth (John 14:6.)

**How can we relationally know Jesus well enough to be “Free?”**

The Christian experience is called “walking” for several reasons, but primarily because it is not “gliding, or coasting.” We have to “march along,” one step at a time, every day, in order to “walk with Jesus.” Sometimes it may feel as though all we are doing is “plodding.” It is not always exciting, nor will it always feel “fun.” It requires effort on our part, if for no other reason, just because it is hard to maintain faith when we are under constant attacks on our faith.

The World Hates Jesus

I find it interesting that the World does not attack the cults in this way. It doesn’t care about them. It does not attack myths, or superstitions in this way: it doesn’t care about them.

It attacks the Gospel and the Person of Christ: because the Gospel is true, and the Jesus Christ we serve is not only our Savior, but is also the Judge of all the Universe! The World hated Jesus and it hates us along with Him.

No one is attacking Islam, or constantly mocking it. They are afraid to do so. Look what happened to Salman Rushdie! 33 years after he was foolish enough to publish a book of satire, mocking Mohammed, and 33 years after some Imam wrote a “Fatwah” against him (putting a contract out on him) he was attacked in public by a Muslim man with a knife…and has at least lost an eye…and still may die of his other wounds.

No one is going out of their way to attack the many “Swamis and Gurus” coming out of India to claim an “inside connection to God” and get rich off of foolish Americans. Unless they break some law and can be prosecuted for that, the fact is, no one cares!

No one is going out of their way to attack the Hari Krishnas…why? Because they are part of the “comfortable darkness of this world” and the world simply doesn’t care about them.

Called to Walk

We are called to “walk by faith.” We are also told that “If we walk in the light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son, cleanseth us from All Sin.” (1^st John 1:7) We are called to shine as lights in the darkness…and the darkness does not appreciate it!

We are called to Walk with Jesus! And, as we do so persistently, in that, after the world has tripped us, or dragged us down, we keep on “getting up and walking again,” we “get to know Jesus.” As we walk with Him, we gain experiential, relational knowledge of the Person of Christ, of His Love, His Forgiveness, His Faithfulness, and His Truth.

We get to see, personally, how Jesus keeps His promises. And as our faith grows, we become increasingly free of the baggage of our old sins, and free from the “twin, yapping dogs” of self-condemnation and guilt. We learn to set aside our old sin nature, and to rejoice that Jesus has lifted the Curse of the Law, taking it off of our shoulders completely, and bearing it all on Himself at the Cross. We find that we are truly made Free. We are free to serve Him out of Love and gratitude.

Not a “Self-Help Scheme”

This is not something we can “plan out and accomplish on our own:” In John 15:5, Jesus said, “…apart from Me ye can do nothing.” It was the simple truth: We are facing invisible enemies in a universe we do not understand, and attempting to function in what is effectively a “maze,” most of which we cannot see at all. The only thing we can do is walk by faith!

We can’t decide for ourselves to “become wise:” We can obediently study and meditate upon God’s Word and He can begin to change our foolish hearts so that we become wise: but God’s Word accomplished the change, not us!.

When we choose to walk with Jesus, we begin to discover what He has chosen for us to do. As we continue walking with Him, we discover the Joy of being part of His work, in the fellowship of the Gospel.

Only to Believers

The promise in John 8:32 is only to believers. To unbelievers, the invitation remains: “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish.” And “Whosoever will, let Him come!”

Once you have been born again, the call is to immerse yourself in His Word, and continue in His Word, so as to become true disciples, and to be set free from your old slavery to Sin and fear. An unbeliever cannot receive that, without first being Born again into God’s family. That is when spiritual life begins, from God’s perspective. But believers are called to Feed, to Walk, and to Grow.

Lord Jesus, we ask for Your Grace to be poured out upon us. Transform our hearts through Your Word. Change us into Your likeness, and allow us to be Your representatives, here on Earth. Change our hearts so that we may shine as lights in the World.

August 6, 2022August 6, 2022

When Ye Have Lifted up the Son of Man

John 8:21-30; (John 8:21, 22; John 8:23-27; John 8:28-30)

Introduction

Last week we examined Jesus’s observation that the Pharisees and their group did not know anything about the Father or the Son: They lacked even a rudimentary knowledge about His Character and His Person, let alone any sort of personal, relational or experiential knowledge.

Obviously, this proud, supposedly well-educated group of Pharisees did not want to hear such things, and they were not going to take it lightly. As we saw back in John 7: 32, 45, 46, they really wanted to have him arrested and done away with…but they had been unable to do so. We saw last week, in John 8:20 that the reason they were unable to arrest Him is that He was the One in control: They could not lay hands on Him, because His hour was not yet come.

And, in the meantime… Jesus was not done telling them “what’s what!” He let them know the consequences of their unbelief.

I go My Way and Ye shall Seek Me.

John 8:21, 22

²¹Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. ²²Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.

Jesus led up to a challenge, of sorts, and a prophecy concerning the near future. He told them that He would be leaving, and that they would seek Him. Jesus said they would die in their sins, not having found Him. He further said that where He was going, they could not follow.

The Pharisees had no idea what Jesus was talking about. They jumped to the conclusion that He was planning to commit suicide, because He said they would not be able to follow Him. But that only underscored the fact that they had no idea Who He really was.

So, Jesus added to their confusion, but, at the same time He explained Who He was to the other listeners. (Remember, He had been teaching in the temple—there was a crowd present.)

Ye are from Beneath, I am from Above

John 8:23-27

²³And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. ²⁵Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. ²⁶I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him. ²⁷They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.

Jesus began to rebuild the foundation for people to believe in Him. He had told them who He was, as the Savior, as the Son of God, as the Eternal Judge, from the beginning. But the Pharisees had ignored the truth all along, so they literally did not know who He was. The rest of the people, however, had been gradually catching on, and some believed.

But Jesus had to make a sharp delineation between the status of a natural human being and the “God-Man,” (Fully God and Fully Man) of supernatural birth and Heavenly origin.

He plainly told them, “You (plural) are from beneath: I am from above.” The origin of each was critically important. Our Deliverer could not be a slave to Sin, Himself. The rules for the Kinsman-Redeemer were very clear:

The Kinsman-Redeemer

He had to be a near relative. (Jesus was physically born into the Human Race for this express reason. He had to be “one of us,” in that way. The promised “Seed of the Woman,” predicted in Genesis 3:15 had to be born of a Woman…but not of a man. Jesus was the only One who could qualify.
He had to be free Himself. A slave could not redeem another slave. Jesus was not a slave to Sin, being born without a sin-nature. (Evidently, being without a human father meant that He did not inherit the sin nature from Adam.)
He had to have the Price of Redemption. In Boaz’s case, in the Book of Ruth, it simply meant he had to be physically wealthy enough to purchase the land and take on the financial responsibility involved. In Jesus’s case, however, it meant that He had to have a perfect life and a perfect blood-sacrifice…His own blood, from a sinless Man.
He had to be Willing. Boaz was willing, whereas the other (potentially better qualified) relative, was not willing. Jesus willingly went to the Cross. He voluntarily laid down His life: He said, “No man taketh my life from Me…I lay it down of my own will and I will take it up again of my own will.” (John 10:17, 18 summarized)

If Jesus was not “From Above,” because of His supernatural birth and parentage–If He was not thereby free from the baggage of guilt and sin with which the entire Human race was burdened, then He could not be the Redeemer. He would not be Free Himself, and regardless of whether He was willing to be our Redeemer, He would not be qualified!

“If ye believe not that I am He, Ye shall die in your Sins”

Jesus connected the fact that He was “not of this world” to the fact that they would die in their sins: It was not just the fact that He was from one source, and they were from another: The issue was their unbelief: and it always has been! In Numbers 13:11, The LORD asked Moses, regarding the children of Israel, “How long will it be ere they believe me?”

Unbelief is always the barrier. Jesus said, in John 3:18, “…he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Rejecting Light

Part of the problem is that the door to the truth has always been the Will, not the Intellect. People who have heard the Gospel usually don’t need “more light” as badly as they need to respond to the light they have. Jesus went on to say, in John 3:19, that “This is the condemnation, that light is come into the World, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

People reject the Light of God’s Word, out of hand, because they are offended that it exposes them for who they are: it shows them to be sinners. Having rejected that Light, it is senseless for them to stand around, demanding more light: they already have rejected the Light!

If they somehow come to a point of repentance, and are willing to receive light, then things can change. They can begin to see things through God’s eyes, and see the Truth of His Word. But these men were actively rebelling against the Light that Jesus was shining into their lives.

Who is Jesus?

So, when they asked Him again, “Who art thou?” Jesus just reminded them that they had already had that answer, repeatedly. Jesus had presented Himself as the Son of God: He had shown His power in miraculous healings and other ways; providing food for thousands, and miraculously providing wine for a wedding feast. He had even revealed that He was the eternal Judge of all the Earth. Finally, He had told them that He, alone, was the Light of the World and the Bread of Life.

So, now, He only said, “I’m Who I told you I was, from the Beginning.” He went on to say that He had a great deal to tell them, and that the things He was saying were true, because the One who sent Him was true: Jesus was only going to share what the Father told Him to share. They still did not understand that He was referring to the Father, so, Jesus made it more specific, and said that they were not really going to understand until it was too late.

When Ye Have Lifted up the Son of Man

John 8:28-30

²⁸Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. ²⁹And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. ³⁰As he spake these words, many believed on him.

In verse 28, Jesus predicted His own Crucifixion. Compare this passage to John 12:32, 33, where Jesus used the same phrase: it specifically explains that he was referring to the crucifixion, that He was predicting the manner in which He would die.

He said that then (after His death) they would realize who He was, and that He had only done as the Father had directed Him. Jesus said that the Father was continually with Him, so that He was not alone.

“Modern advantages”

Now: we “modern Gentiles” have two advantages, if you want to call them that:

We were not born Jews, so we do not feel any resentment at the accusation that “we have killed our own Messiah.” Some Jews have freely recognized and confessed the national error, and have embraced their slain Messiah, as their Risen Christ…the Living Messiah, and their Living God in the Flesh.

Yes, they are grieved at the tragedy, but they rejoice in His victory! But most of us, as Gentiles, never had that as a stumbling block to begin with. (Of course, the other side of that coin is that we also never had the blessing of being one of the chosen people of God. We did not grow up with the heritage of the Law and the Prophets.)
We did not live back then, so ALL of our view of Jesus is “after the fact.” Also, we did not have to wait for the crucifixion: It already happened. Thus, we see His whole ministry in past tense, including His life and death and burial and resurrection, and it all fits! We believe it!

Who is responsible? (And How do We Reply?)

The truth, though, is: He died for the Whole World: there has never been a human being, (other than Jesus Himself,) whose sins were not on that Cross with Jesus. No one needs to feel “more” guilty of His death than anyone else. On the other hand, none of us can feel “less” accountable to God for His sacrifice. The question in every person’s life, is “What are you going to do with Jesus?”

As an unbeliever, I faced that question because I ignorantly and arrogantly rebelled against Him. But the time came when I saw myself as a helpless sinner. I was unable to “keep the rules” even if I made the rules! It was finally obvious to me that I needed Him as my Savior. I did not understand much else, initially: There is no way I could have explained the Law of the Substitute, nor had I ever heard of the Kinsman-Redeemer. I just knew I needed a Savior, and that Jesus was the One!

The Question For Every Day

Today, as a believer, that question is still at the forefront, every day: Will I respond to Him as my Master, in obedience, as God, in worship: as my Sustainer, Provider and Protector, in faith, prayer, and active trust? Or will I forget He is there at all, until a crisis arises of some sort?

We live long after the time of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. We know who He is and what He has done for us. But we are among those in verse 30, where it says, “As he spake these words, many believed on him.” They placed their faith in Jesus. So have we!

“Shoe-Leather Faith”

But, what did they do later? We are not told. In the next chapter, we will see the story of one man who believed, and who suffered persecution for his faith, but he went on to become a worshipper of Jesus in the midst of that persecution. He “put shoe-leather on his faith!”

What God asks all of us to do, is to “put shoe-leather on our faith.” Put it into practice! “Walk the walk,” as people sometimes say today.

In Ephesians 4:1-3, Paul begs us to “…walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” He goes on to explain what that means, in terms of how we relate to one another. In fact, Paul spends most of the rest of the Book of Ephesians, teaching what that means in every part of life.

Possible Outcomes

Some of the people who believed would go on to be martyred for their faith. Others lived long, quiet lives, blessing those around them and honoring the Lord in every area of their lives. Some did neither: they eventually slipped back into the World’s way of thought and behavior. We can read about each kind of believer throughout the book of Acts and the Epistles.

Choosing Shoe-Leather

Each of you has a will: you make choices. Each of you has an intellect: you think and learn. You can read your Bible to intellectually learn what God wants you to do. But, ultimately, “The door to the truth is the Will, not the intellect.”

You have to decide, day by day, and moment by moment, what you will actually do with Jesus. I have to make that same decision, too, every day. Use your Intellect, but use your Will, as well, to choose to “put Shoe-leather on your faith.”

Lord Jesus, teach us to make right decisions, and to walk with you in the light of your Word, every day. Shape us into your likeness, and use us as tools in Your hands. Let us reflect Your light in all parts of our lives.

July 30, 2022July 30, 2022

“Ye Neither Know Me nor My Father:”

Ye Neither Know Me nor My Father

John 8:13-20

Introduction

Last week, we examined the statement Jesus made, identifying Himself both as the Light of the World, and (because of His use of the “I AM” phrase,) as God. Anyone who heard Him and who was willing to consider the implication of His words would have seen that He was claiming to be the Creator, as well as the Judge, and the Lawgiver—the Light of Israel, and their Savior. From their response it is pretty clear that the majority did not see those truths.

The only verbal response of the Pharisees, to that simple statement, was that since he was bearing witness of himself, His testimony must not be true. That is illogical, as, ultimately, every testimony regarding oneself (including the times they demanded that He identify Himself) have to be one person confessing their own identity. But Jesus didn’t argue with them regarding the lack of logic: He addressed the real issue: He was telling the truth, and there were other witnesses to His identity as well.

¹³ The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. ¹⁴ Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.

¹⁵ Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. ¹⁶ And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. ¹⁷ It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true. ¹⁸I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me.

¹⁹ Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. ²⁰ These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.

My Record is True

Jesus’s first defense is that He Himself actually knew where He had come from, and they did not. They couldn’t ascertain the truth of His testimony, as they made no investigation as to His lineage or place of birth, let alone to see what other prophecies He had already fulfilled. They tried to brand Him a liar, simply because they wanted to silence Him!

I have several times heard people denouncing the Bible as “fairy tales, fiction, lies, etc.” Why were they saying such things? Because the Bible offended them, and they wanted to silence it. But, in every case where I was able to question the accusers at all, it turned out they knew virtually nothing of what the Bible actually teaches, and understood nothing of the little they knew. They were acting exactly as the Pharisees acted, and for the same motive! We know from 1^st Corinthians 1:23 that the Gospel will always offend people. What they do about that “offense” will ultimately determine the outcome in their life.

Why does the Gospel Offend People?

As we have mentioned in the past, every example of “good news” (that is what “Gospel” means) is predicated upon some pre-existing “bad news.” In this case the “bad news” is that the entire World is condemned, and guilty before God for two reasons:

Because of the Sin of Adam, (what we call “Original Sin) which plunged us all into spiritual death, being separated from God, and unable to approach Him or fellowship with Him, and,
Because of our personal sins, which we commit by choice. Romans 1:18-32 outlines the overall slide of the Human Race, down through History, away from a relationship with God.

Responding to Guilt and dealing with Sin

There are four possible responses to that fact of guilt:

We can simply deny that Sin exists, and thereby brush away any such accusations. To achieve this, one has to deny that there is such a thing as “right and wrong,” Most people have a pretty clear recognition that right and wrong exist, even if they can’t quite define either one of them. Therefore, since most people do see “right versus wrong” as a legitimate concern, most will not choose this response.

A second option is to admit that Sin exists, but deny that it really matters, because “God is so loving and forgiving that He surely will not judge us harshly.” (Funny…that is exactly what the Serpent told Eve, in Genesis, too! “Thou shalt not surely die!”) But, since most people also are aware of a concept of justice; that “wrongs should be righted:” that “Evil should be punished,” and “Good should be rewarded,” most people are also uncomfortable with saying “sin doesn’t matter.” (They know it does matter!)

We can deny that we personally are sinners, angrily “wrapping ourselves in the rags of our self-righteousness,” saying “Well, yes, there is Sin in the world, but I’m GOOD!” This requires deep self-delusion, to ignore the marks of sin in our own lives. So, most world-religions start with this idea and go just a little further, saying, “Well, yes, we are sinners, but not very “bad” sinners, and what little guilt there is in our lives, we will overbalance by our good works!” Human Religion builds upon this concept: “I can DO things to make God accept me!” It ignores the concept of God’s Holiness: it assumes He can be “bought off” by our trivial human works. Paul addressed this idea in Galatians 2:21 “I do not frustrate the Grace of God, for if righteousness come by the Law, then Christ is dead in vain!”

The fourth response is full confession of both who we are, as lost sinners, and the fact that we cannot save ourselves. We don’t like that! It offends us! We want to claim the “innate goodness of the Human Race,” when God says quite the opposite: He says, “We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags!” (Isaiah 64:6)
You see, the “Bad news” is that “All we like Sheep have gone astray, and have turned every one to his own way!” But the Good news is the other half of that same verse: “The LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all!” (Isaiah 53:6)

Embracing the Cross

Do you see the difference in that fourth response? It does not deny that Sin exists. Nor does it deny that Sin is serious. It does not deny personal guilt, nor does it claim that we can somehow save ourselves: Instead, it confesses that Jesus alone can take away my sin and give me a right standing before God. It places my only hope right where it belongs, casting myself completely on the Mercy and Grace of God, which He provided for all sinners, at the Cross.

We embrace God’s chosen sacrifice by faith. Every saved person in history has done exactly the same thing, from Adam and Eve, being clothed with the Blood Sacrifice that God made for them in the Garden of Eden, to the Children of Israel huddling under the Blood of the Passover Lamb, and trusting God to save them from the coming Judgment, and the Thief on the Cross, trusting in Jesus for Mercy. And every single one received the same promise in return: Eternal life, freely given and never revoked. Jesus said, “He that cometh unto Me, I will in no wise cast out.”

Make it Personal

We make it personal, by personal choice. The people at that first Passover knew that God was judging Egypt that night: They killed the Lamb, and they dipped a bundle of hyssop in the blood of that Lamb, and they struck the blood onto the lintel and the two doorposts. But that wasn’t all: remember, every individual in each house personally ate of that Lamb. They did not just sit back and say, “I approve of this sacrifice!” They confessed that the Lamb was killed for their sake, personally, by eating of the Lamb, personally.

It is one thing to agree that “Jesus died for the Sins of the Whole World,” but entirely another to recognize that “He died because of my sins.” I need to personally embrace the Cross by faith, confessing that His sacrifice is for me, personally, not just a nice “theory” about which we all should “feel good.”

Embracing Truth

Jesus said (v. 15) that the Pharisees were “Judging after the Flesh.” They had corrupt motives and they judged accordingly. In this particular ministry (v. 16,) Jesus was not judging people: He came to offer Grace. (We saw that, exemplified, in verses 1-11.)

The amazing thing about that verse, though, is that He really is the Holy and Eternal Judge of all the Earth! He was temporarily setting aside His position as our Judge, in order to offer us His Grace. He said “I’m not judging anyone, but when I do judge (and He will!), My Judgment will be true, because it will be in full agreement with God the Father.

The only way for us to survive that judgment, is to embrace the truth: Embrace the fact of our sin, and embrace the fact that Jesus’s blood takes away sin. Embrace the “Bad News” that God hates sin, and that Judgment is coming… but also embrace the “Good News” that Jesus Saves!

Knowing The Father and the Son

Interestingly, this passage does not use the Greek word “ginosko,” which means an ongoing, experiential, relational knowledge. I had always assumed that was the “knowledge” Jesus said they didn’t have. But this is the other Greek word for “Know,” (“oida”) meaning simply knowing as a fact, or knowing about someone or some concept. Jesus was saying “You don’t know even who I am nor do you understand who my Father is at all!”

One place we see both of those words used, side by side, and contrasted, is in what I find to be a hilarious passage in Acts 19:11-16 There were certain unbelieving Jews who had been selling their services as “exorcists.” They saw that Paul was “the real McCoy,” so to speak, so seven of them attempted to use the Name of Jesus, as Paul did, to cast out demons.

They stood before a demon-possessed man, and said to the evil spirit, “We command you by the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, to come out!” And the evil spirit answered, saying (KJV) “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?!” And He jumped on them and savagely beat them all, so that they ran away, bleeding and without their clothes! (Ha! I love that story!)

Two Ways to Know

But what was really happening there? The spirit actually said “Jesus, I know personally (“ginosko:”) I have experiential knowledge of Him. And I have heard of Paul (“oida”) I know about him. But you are not connected with either of them: you have zero authority!”

So, Jesus, far from only saying they lacked experiential, relational knowledge of God, was saying that the Pharisees knew nothing about Him. And they knew nothing of Jesus, as well! He effectively told them “If you knew anything about My Father, you would also know about Me!”

The Pharisees weren’t just lacking a “relationship with God:” they were so far removed from the truth that Jesus said they knew nothing about Him! But some believed, as we see in v. 30. And, in verse 20, we see that they couldn’t take him prisoner, nor attack Him, because He was the One in control: His hour had not yet come.

Experiential Knowledge

Once a person has confessed that they need a Savior and has placed their full trust in Jesus as that Savior, they have the “knowledge” Jesus addressed here: But from that point forward, we are encouraged, and admonished, and commanded to grow in the other kind of knowledge: the experiential, relational, personal, ongoing knowledge of the Holy God who has chosen us to be born again. He reached out to the whole world, and paid the sin-debt of the whole world, offering eternal life to the Whole World.

We entered in by faith, and by a free choice, having seen the clear invitation, “Whosoever Will may come!” But once inside, we looked back at that same door through which we entered and see that on the inside, it says “Chosen in Him from the foundation of the Earth!”

And now He says to follow Him, trust in Him, learn from Him! This is how we gain experiential knowledge of God. We study His Word, that we may grow thereby (He commands this!) We learn to use the tools He has given us, and the Light, by which to walk with God.

Embracing Jesus

Most religions give some sort of “lip service” to “honoring Jesus:” they declare him to be “a great teacher, a philosopher, a prophet, a mystic, or a miracle-worker.” They may declare Him to be a “Mighty Spirit-Being.” They may even be so bold as to declare Him to be “a god.” But they will not confess that He is the Almighty Creator; God in the Flesh: God the Son. Eternally God, and the eternally “Anointed One” (Messiah.) “The Lamb Slain from the foundation of the World.”

And that is the Jesus we are confessing: The Biblical Jesus. Not some imaginary, created being, whom we may see with great respect, gratitude, or love, as if He were simply a Human Hero.

No! He is God! He is the Creator who spoke the World into existence. He is the King. He is the Master. (We don’t like that concept, but here it is: He is our Master!)

Each of us still has a sin nature, and we don’t like the idea that “someone else is the Boss!” We still desire self-realization, self-direction, self-rule. We say, “I want to be my own Person.” In strictly Human terms, that sounds fine, but this craving for autonomy actually began in the rebellion of Lucifer, which destroyed him as a holy angel, and destroyed us, through Adam. We can read Lucifer’s five statements of self-will in Isaiah 14:12-15. He wanted to be his own boss!

Embracing the Master

“Embracing Jesus” means embracing Him as our Lord! Embracing Him as our Master!

“Embracing Jesus” means embracing the tasks He gives us, on a day-by-day basis, as well as the overall Job He has given us, as Ambassadors of Christ. We are to shine in this dark world, as we noted last week. How? Well, Jesus said, “So let your light shine before Men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in Heaven!”

Every winter I eventually notice that the headlights on my car seem to be getting more and more dim. Finally, I get out of the car and check the headlamps, and sure enough, they are so encrusted with road grime that the burning light on the inside is hardly able to get through the dirt on the outside. We need to check ourselves on a regular basis to see that we are not becoming so “spotted by the world” that the Light of God’s Love is no longer visible. It can happen!

So, we address the “Dirt”…the Sin that is dimming the light in our lives, by confessing it to God. 1^st John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1^st John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the Light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”

That is why He calls it “walking:” there is no coasting, or gliding: it is a “one-step-at-a-time” walk of faith and obedience.

Lord Jesus, cleanse our lives and teach us to walk in obedience to Your Word and to Your Spirit. Let our lives shine as quiet testimony of your Grace, and open our mouths to share the Gospel with those around us.