Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Well, let's stand this morning.
[00:00:03] Amen.
[00:00:06] This is the beginning of a brand new year and we're going to start tomorrow night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night. Seeking God together.
[00:00:14] I encourage you to fast whatever you feel God is leading you to do. I'm not going to tell you if you should be fasting. Maybe some of you need to fast, whatever it is that is an impediment for you seeking God. I would just maybe spend some time dedicating yourself to prayer. Let's begin the new year, right? Amen.
[00:00:34] Let's believe that God wants to do something very special this year. I sense it in my spirit. God wants to do something and we want to be a part of it. I'm going to share a little bit along this. I know this title probably doesn't lend itself in maybe your mind to exactly what some of the things that God wants to do, but I think it will. You'll see in a minute as we look at Jesus's life and some of the people that were opposing him. So let's pray. Lord, I just want to thank you, Father, as we begin this amazing new year, the 7th day of a new year. And I just pray that you would open the eyes of our hearts, open the eyes of our understanding. I pray that this year that there would be a new purposefulness in our lives, a new focus on doing your will, that we would do it better than we've ever done it before. We would walk in a greater degree of obedience than we ever have in our past, Lord, and we would see amazing things as a result of just doing what you're asking us to do. Because when we do that, things begin to happen in a very profound way in our lives. And we thank you for that. Lord, I pray today that you would restore our bodies, that there would be many healings this year. I pray that there will be many people coming to faith in you. There would be spiritual growth in our lives, that we would be more consistent in our relationship with you, Father, not just a whim, but Lord, actually a discipline which would lead to a great delight in our lives, Father. And we just thank you for that. And we just pray today that you'd open the eyes of our understanding and you would speak very clearly through the words that John has given us, revealing the nature of who Jesus is. May that become more real to us than ever before. And we thank you for that in Jesus name and God's people said, amen. Amen.
[00:02:26] How to overcome the critics in your life when you know who you are and you know what your purpose is.
[00:02:35] You can remain steady under a barrage of criticism. How we know that's true? You need to know who you are. Jesus knew who he was. As a matter of fact, I believe every person will experience criticism, especially those who are doing something of significance. And I think Jesus certainly was. And so he was no exception. He had a lot of critics. He had a lot of people criticize him. And we're going to learn from him. How many know we can look at Jesus's life, and it's designed to teach us how to handle these challenging things in our lives.
[00:03:09] The background to this discourse, which I've stopped, remember I left off here before Christmas in John, chapter five. Well, we're picking it back up. Okay, so we're in John, chapter five, verse 16 to 30. The background to this discourse between Jesus and the religious leaders is the healing of a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day. And since Jesus commanded the man to pick up his mat and walk, the religious leaders lost it. They were upset, they were angry. They felt like Jesus was violating the Ten Commandments. He was not honoring the Sabbath day. You see, in their minds, they had these traditions, and these oral traditions really were governing their understanding of God's law. And they actually had 39 regulations regarding how the Sabbath day was to be kept holy. The problem was that these jewish leaders interpretation was impeding God's intention for what he wanted to do on those particular sabbaths. That's very interesting. It's possible that we get our religious stuff in our heads, impeding what God wants to accomplish. We don't want to be in that boat, do we? I tell you, I don't. Certainly, I want to be in step with God.
[00:04:35] Many of Jesus'miracles were actually done on the Sabbath. I don't know if you realize. Know, I was thinking about this almost like Jesus is poking them in the eye.
[00:04:47] He almost seems like he's looking for a fight. But I don't believe that's what's going on. I believe what's happening is that God is a God of great compassion. And as we're about to see when we have a wrong understanding and a misconception of God's purposes, we begin to get upset. We develop religious indignation, and we can become very pharisaical in our approach. Much of the negation of what God wants to do in our lives and in the lives of other people. So let's pick up here.
[00:05:19] Jesus is now going to take this opportunity to explain some things to them about who he really is, his identity, and also his purpose. And I believe that when we understand our identity and our purpose, we'll be able to overcome critics. Okay, so because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, so remember plural things. Many times Jesus was doing it, he just happened to be doing it on the Sabbath. The jewish leader's response to that was to begin to persecute him. And in his defense, Jesus said to them, my father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working now. John is using this context to show us the true nature of Jesus. And these incidences, I think, are more than just powerful theological lessons, but they're very practical examples of how you and I can discover who Jesus really is and also how you and I need to respond the way Jesus responds. We can learn from Jesus'example, how to handle things in know how. Many say he's the best model. So we're not only going to discover who he is, but we're going to take a look at how to live life and how to respond to the people that criticize us in a way like Jesus did. Okay, so how can we overcome the critics in our lives? And what can we learn about the nature and purpose of Jesus, and what can we learn about God's purposes for the Sabbath?
[00:06:47] Well, like I said, when we understand who we are and we understand what our purpose is in life, we can continue to do what needs to be done despite criticism. As a matter of fact, I would argue that if you never get persecuted and you never have any criticism in your life, you're probably not doing something right.
[00:07:07] Is that shocking? Some of us go, I just want to fly under the radar, pastor, please. I don't want to bother offend.
[00:07:13] I'm just saying if you actually do the will of the father, you're going to do a few things that are going to rub people the wrong way, because Jesus certainly did do that. And if we're going to be like him, we're going to create some of these things. You're going. I don't know if I really want to do know. I don't really know if I like conflict. I really don't want to have those experiences. But Jesus said, blessed are you. When people persecute you, you're going to miss out on that blessing.
[00:07:41] There's no amens in this place.
[00:07:44] I don't know about that one, pastor. There's a lot of other blessings I want, but I don't know if I want the blessing of persecution right in this miracle. And the discussion that follows Jesus reveals who he is and how he is bringing glory to God. How many here say, though, I want to bring glory to God? How many say, I'm up for that? Well, you're going to suffer persecution.
[00:08:08] It goes with it. Okay, so we can't just unhook something we don't like. This is a cross that we have to bear, folks. We're going to bring glory to God. There's going to be some element of criticism, and people are going to put you down and say things, and we're going to talk about how to handle all of that. Now, Jesus was not just revealing the nature of the father to his generation, he's revealing the nature of the father to every generation. And so there are three things that reveal Jesus's identity through his actions and his words. And these texts may be, I think, some of the most powerful arguments for what we call the deity or the nature of Jesus as God. You know, a lot of people say, oh, yeah, Jesus is a prophet, or Jesus is a great teacher. Jesus is a moral person, but he's not God. He is God. And John is going to make some very strong arguments, and he's going to put those arguments in the mouth of Jesus. In other words, John's writing about 30 years after the resurrection of Jesus. And John's purpose in writing this gospel is to show us who Jesus is, that he's the Christ, he's the son of the living God, and that if we believe in him, we'll have life in his name. And it's a certain kind of life, and we're going to look at that kind of life. It's called eternal life. And it's not just a forever life, it's a type of life.
[00:09:28] So let's take a look at the first thing. Here is his actions in obedience to his father. Now the Son is showing his love to the father by obeying his father, by doing what his father does. I don't think you can show any greater honor to someone than you try to emulate their life.
[00:09:46] Flattery is.
[00:09:50] How would I say that?
[00:09:53] Imitation. Thank you. That's it. Imitation is the highest form of flattery.
[00:09:58] I've said it before. I just couldn't remember how it started.
[00:10:02] It's coming back. Thank you very much.
[00:10:05] So obedience, I believe, is one of the highest manifestations of a child's love toward their parents. How many say that's probably true?
[00:10:13] And Jesus'obedience to the Father in heaven is absolute and perfect. He does it perfectly. Now, in this room, we're trying to obey the father, but I don't know if we could say that we always do it perfectly. I think there's a few failures, right? But Jesus did it perfectly and he's going to use one of these elements as an argument on this healing on the Sabbath. He basically says, I'm just doing what my father does. Isn't that amazing? I'm just copying my father. And my father actually heals on the Sabbath.
[00:10:49] Now I think one of the things we can learn from Jesus is we have to learn obedience. That's probably one of the great lessons. We all struggle with this.
[00:10:58] We can try to live our lives according to our own understanding. The biggest problem I think we have is we lean to our own understanding too much. Rather than trusting God, we try to figure things out. We try to do it our own way. And a lot of times it's not working for us. And I always say to people, is that working for you? And if the answer is no, let's take a look at how God wants us to do it. Let's try that. And sometimes what God's asking us to know is a little frightening to us because we have to trust him, but he wants us to do that.
[00:11:30] So we need to learn how to yield our lives and learn of his ways. Jesus'argument toward his behavior regarding the Sabbath F. F. Bruce says when Jesus'attitude to the Sabbath was challenged when he was in Galilee, he appealed to the purpose for which the day was given. He said the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So the son of man is lord even over the Sabbath. So what is he saying there? He's saying God created the Sabbath rest for the sake of human beings, not so that human beings would serve the day. How many go, you can put things backwards. Sometimes we get it wrong. God gave us rest because we needed rest. Otherwise if God hadn't done that, people would be going all the time and we're not designed to do that. Okay, number one. But then here in Jerusalem, he now invokes another principle, one which had exercised the mind of many of the rabbis. Does God keep his own laws? In other words, is God resting?
[00:12:31] Is he practicing Sabbath? Remember it says in Genesis that after he had created the world of six days, on the 7th day he rested. But there was a lot of discussion. What did that really mean? And how could he sense plainly his providential care over his creation was unceasing. In other words, it seems like God's always working because he's not sleeping, he's not slumbering. How many know God is still sustaining the universe even on the Sabbath day?
[00:12:58] So was God absolutely resting? A great theological discussion. You could understand that right now.
[00:13:09] So let me summarize. F f roofs. He continues on to make this argument. He says in the book of Hebrews, the argument is made that God rested and after he created the world, his creation, and has never come to an end.
[00:13:24] And still in being, we know for a fact that, do you know that God is still creating like the universe is still expanding? Does anybody know that? It's an amazing thing what's going on. We can enter into that rest. But the point that Jesus is making is different in that although God is resting, God continues to do his work. Okay, it sounds a little conflicting, but it's not. God is resting, but he's working. You see, God is trying to teach us that we need to focus from rest to do work. Let me give it to you this way. We don't earn our salvation. We don't try to become a Christian. We surrender our lives. We become a Christian. We receive it by grace. And out of that grace comes good works. So good works doesn't make me right with God. Good works is a result of being right with God.
[00:14:15] A little different approach. It's out of rest that we work. It's out of rest that we do things. Now Jesus justifies his action on the ground that he's but following his father's example. In other words, the father's still working on the Sabbath, guys. And that's why I'm working.
[00:14:34] Well, these guys are upset.
[00:14:37] The Bible says they got really upset with Jesus'argument. Not so much that he know, promoting that he could do things on the Sabbath. But Jesus had shifted his argument, and his argument basically was stemming from his unique relationship with the father. Immediately, these authorities recognized in Jesus's defense, that he was making himself equal to the father. He was making himself equal to God. Verse 18 says, for this reason, they tried all the more to kill him. Not only was he in their minds, breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.
[00:15:12] I got to stop and pause and ask the question, if you're equal with God, who are you? You're God.
[00:15:19] Well, this was freaking them out. They thought he was committing the ultimate blasphemy. He was basically saying, I'm God.
[00:15:27] Now, d. A. Carson says, even Jesus'use of my father adds to the pointedness of what he's saying.
[00:15:36] In corporate worship, Jews sometimes spoke of God as our father. But the individual way Jesus spoke of God as his own father displayed the unique father son relationship Jesus claimed as his own. In other words, they would say our father, but they would not say my father. And Jesus is saying he's my father in this unique sense that I am his son. It's a unique relationship. And Jesus gave them this answer very truly. I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself. He can only do what he sees the father doing, because whatever the father does, the Son also does. So Jesus is saying, hey, listen, guys, I'm just doing what my father's doing.
[00:16:17] I'm in step with him. I'm just doing what he's doing.
[00:16:22] That's my argument for healing on the Sabbath. So what Jesus is telling him is God wanted to heal this person on the Sabbath. That's why I was doing it. This is the heart of God. You guys have misunderstood. You've created a whole bunch of rules that are trying to impede what God wants to accomplish.
[00:16:41] Is it possible to block God, to get in God's way, to not fulfill what God wants to accomplish? Well, obviously it is, because Jesus was basically telling them, you're totally wrong in your understanding of why God created the Sabbath, what the Sabbath was for, and what God wants to accomplish. You guys have got it wrong. You've misunderstood.
[00:17:01] Know, they wanted to argue. They were arguing with God. How many know when you're arguing with Jesus, you're actually arguing with, don't we never argue with God? Right.
[00:17:16] FB Westcott says perfect sonship involves perfect.
[00:17:22] Let me go back and read this verse. It says here in skip that perfect sonship. I'm going to come back to that verse. Perfect sonship involves perfect identity of will and action with the father. That's what Jesus is basically arguing. It follows that separate, self determined action would be a denial of his sonship. In other words, if Jesus did not do what the father was doing, he would be out of step with the father.
[00:17:46] So he said, that's why I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm just doing what the father is telling me to do. It also constitute another oblique, which means an indirect way, claim to be deity, to be God. This is Jesus is actually telling him, that's who I am, I'm God. He's doing it in an indirect way, though, for the only one who could conceivably do whatever the father does must be as great as the father, as divine as the father. Carson is basically saying the only reason Jesus could do these things was because he was as great as his father, he is God now. He's explaining why he healed the man on the Sabbath. Because it was out of God's compassion.
[00:18:28] And we need to understand something. God's very compassionate to those who are needy, and then it's also an expression of the love the father has for the Son. This is another reason why he did this. Listen, what John says here, for the father loves the Son and shows him all he know. Part of God's loving us is showing us things. When you love someone, you want to share what you know with them, right? The father showing the son the Son is seeing it. Yes. He will show him even greater works than these so that you will be amazed. In other words, if you guys think this is a big deal, know, touching this man who was paralyzed, you're going to see even bigger deals. I mean, let's face it. Can you imagine how hard can you get when Jesus now raises Lazarus from the dead? How many think that's a pretty amazing miracle? Especially when he had been dead for four days and he wasn't in any refrigerator either.
[00:19:28] I mean, yeah, let your imagination go, right? Hey, Martha was saying, hey, Lord, we're going to roll the tomb away. He's going to smell. It's not good. He's decomposing. Jesus just goes, roll the know and he heals.
[00:19:43] Mean, that's an amazing thing. And, you know, it was such a polarizing moment because some people immediately believed he had to be who he said he was. And then the other half ran off. And that was the triggering point, to have Jesus crucified. It's really amazing how hard we can get locked into our viewpoint.
[00:20:02] We could say it this way. While the religious leaders were upset, what they were really witnessing was the work of God as shown to the son by the father. And so Carson concludes with the argument that Jesus is making. If the father, out of love for his son, shows him all he does, and the Son, in consequence, out of love for his father, obeys him perfectly and does whatever the father does such that people observe the Son and wonder at what he does, then two important truths follow. Number one, the Son, by his obedience to his father, is acting in such a way that he's revealing the father, doing the father's deeds and performing the father's will. Let's pause there for a minute and say, how does that apply to you and me? Same thing. If you and I just perfectly do what God is asking us to do, what are we doing? We're revealing the father.
[00:20:50] How many say, that's really what God wants us to be doing. He wants us to live our lives in such a way that our lives is a constant revelation of who God really is. People should be able to look at our lives and say, you know what? I know there's a God. I'm looking at God flowing through your life. That's a powerful thought.
[00:21:09] How many think that's amazing, that we become salt, we become light, we become a witness? That's what our christian lives are to be about. That's why it's so critical that we're walking with God and doing what he's telling us to do and only saying what he's telling us to say. Sometimes we need to pray this prayer, Lord, guard my lips that I may only say what you want me to say. Sometimes you go, yeah, but I know. Who cares what you know? Just tell people what God's telling you to tell them. No more, no less. You can say too much and you can say too little. Right?
[00:21:43] That's really hard to say. God, I just want to say what you want me to say. No more, no less. I just want you to help me to do what you want me to do. No more, no less. I just want to do it perfectly. I want to do it as perfectly as I can. You'll have an impact in people's lives, let me tell you. Number two. This marvelous disclosure of the nature and character of God utterly depends in the first instance, not on God's love of us, but on the love of the father for the Son and on the love of the son for the father. What's he saying here? He's saying, listen, we always think it's about us. Most of what God is doing, it's because he loves his son. And most of what the Son is doing is because he loves the father. It's because of their love. And out of that love, you and I are the beneficiaries.
[00:22:27] That's amazing to me.
[00:22:30] Do you know why you can serve people for a long period of time, especially when people don't treat you right. How do you do that? You have to have a love for the father, and you have to know the father's love to you. And that's what changes why you do what you do with people. Because if you're doing it for the sake of what people are going to think about you and say about you, you're going to stop doing it. That's why so many people don't do the right things, because they finally quit. They give up. They get tired. They feel overwhelmed. They feel distraught. But I'm saying what you and I need to do is stop doing it for the sake of people and start doing it for the sake of our father in heaven and recognize that our father loves us and we just keep doing the right thing, no matter how they respond.
[00:23:13] Is this making sense to us? How many are catching on? What I'm telling you is this is how you learn to persevere. This is how you learn to continue to do the right thing. It can only happen if you and I understand that I'm doing this out of my love for my father in heaven. And I recognize that he loves me and I can keep doing the right things because I have that reciprocating relationship. And that's exactly what Carson is telling us about what the father and the son were doing and what we can learn from Jesus'obedience to the father, that as we do God's will in our lives, we will reveal the father to others.
[00:23:48] I think it's a beautiful thing.
[00:23:51] The idea of being amazed by the greater works that the father shows the Son is not to impress people, but to reveal who the father is. Ff. Bruce says now his defense has scandalized them. They were offended. That's that word, scandal.
[00:24:06] It's the same word. We get offended. Jesus offended people.
[00:24:11] You know what I'm discovering? This is an easy society to offend people in. Everybody's scandalized.
[00:24:19] It's true. Now his defense has scandalized them more than his original actions had done. Isn't that interesting?
[00:24:26] Now they're really upset. Not because he did the miracle on the Sabbath, but because he says he's God.
[00:24:32] They're upset. He goes on to assure them that because he's the son, he has authority to perform much greater works than the one as he perceives his father's will and gives effect to it.
[00:24:47] If what he has done already has taken them by surprise, what they have yet to see will give them real cause for wonder. There's more stuff coming, guys. Wait till the Father and the spirit raise me from the dead.
[00:25:00] That'll get you going. And it did.
[00:25:04] So what can we learn from this narrative by John? Well, we're to understand that Jesus is unique in his relationship to the, and as I said, if you're equal to God, you have to be God. There's only one God. And we understand there are three persons in the nature of God. And we learn that we can misunderstand and abuse what God intends for good. We can censor people. We can become critical of others. We can begin to restrict them from experiencing God's grace.
[00:25:31] That's what these religious leaders were doing.
[00:25:34] When we become like Jesus, we act in step with the Father by doing his will, which is living a life of obedience. And instead of restricting people, we're helping them come to know God well. Let me move to the second thing that reveals Jesus'identity through his actions and words, his power to give life.
[00:25:53] I don't know. I was so overwhelmed by these next two points. First of all, the jewish people believed, and rightly so, that only God had inherent life within himself. In other words, God. Life originates in God. You and I can't say life originates in us. Life has been imputed to us. Life has been given to us. Life can be withdrawn from us. But you know God, that's not the way it is. God can raise people from the dead, and he does and he will. As a matter of fact, John records for us that Jesus declared his amazing purpose in coming to this world in the 10th chapter when he said, the thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy. Come that they might have life and have it to the full. Jesus is here to give us life, but a certain quality of life. Here we see that this purpose when he came 2000 years ago was to give us eternal life.
[00:26:47] Ff Bruce says, human beings, in common with other living things, do not possess life in themselves. Their life is derived from God, the source and stay of all life. Verse 21. For just as the father raises the dead and gives them life, even so, the son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. In making this claim that the father raises the dead and gives life, Jesus is saying that he also has that ability to give that kind of life and to raise the dead and thereby, in effect, saying that he is God. You know, so often I listen to people telling me, know, Jesus is not God. Listen, you cannot read John's gospel and walk away from that gospel not knowing that Jesus is God, he's doing God things.
[00:27:36] You know, it's not only that eternal life is granted to those who believe in him. It is that he exercises the divine prerogative of imparting that life.
[00:27:50] So how does eternal life happen in our lives? That's a great question.
[00:27:55] When we respond in faith to Jesus'words and we believe in him and in the Father, we can now experience that kind of life. Eternal life is not just forever life. Eternal life is a certain quality of life. The moment you receive Jesus Christ, you receive eternal life. And that life actually creates something new inside of us. You say what happens? Well, it creates a new desire to please God. First of all, there's new outcomes in our lives as we walk in the spirit. Think about when the spirit comes into us. What's the fruit of the spirit? Love.
[00:28:33] Before, we were frustrated, angry, cranky, upset, addicted, broken, we could talk about all the things we were. But when the spirit of God takes control of our lives, when God is in control, all of a sudden there's love and joy and peace and self control and gentleness. Is that beautiful stuff starts coming out of our lives. But that's not you and me. That's God living inside of us, coming outside.
[00:28:58] He's bleeding through. The change is now from the inside out. And if we say we're a Christian for a long time and we don't see any of these qualities in our lives, then we have to ask ourselves, am I really a Christian, or am I just intellectually saying I'm one? Have I really surrendered my life and asked Christ to come in and rule and reign in my. Know, I was reading that text this morning. Abraham, God says, I am your shield. But that word shield means I'm your sovereign.
[00:29:31] I'm the God who's going to reward you, Abraham. I'm going to protect you, Abraham, because I'm your sovereign. Is Christ just sovereign in your life? Is he the king of your life? Is he ruling and reigning over your soul? That's the question we have to ask. Listen to what Jesus says.
[00:29:49] Very truly, I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes in him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged, but has crossed over from death to life. This person has crossed over. Listen, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you've crossed over from death to life, because death is just separation from God. He goes on to say here, very truly, I tell you a time is coming and has now come, when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God, and those who hear it will live. For as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. Who's the dead that Jesus is talking about here? Let's go back to that verse. What does it say there in verse 25? He said, whoever, when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God, those who hear it will live. Who are the dead? Well, the dead are the people that Paul talks about in Ephesians, chapter two, verse one. When he says, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live. When you followed the ways of this world, the society that has a value system that's totally in rebellion against God, the ruler of the kingdom of the heir, the spirit who is now at work and those who are disobedient. Listen, we're living in a present evil age. And there's a spirit at work that's having people to be in defiance and rebellion against the king of the entire universe, God himself.
[00:31:13] And ff Bruce paints this picture for us and he says, and should it be asked how the dead can be expected to hear? And another hebrew prophet will help us answer the question. When Ezekiel was commanded to prophesy to probably be the most unpromising congregation that ever a preacher faced.
[00:31:31] This is in Ezekiel 37, where God says and prophesied there was just a valley of dead, dry bones. Can you imagine? These people are dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.
[00:31:42] And he says, I want you to preach to them. And then God says, do you think these dry bones can live, Ezekiel? And Ezekiel's pretty smart. He goes, well, you know, God, I'm not going to answer that question. I'm not going to say anything's impossible with God. God says, I just want you to start preaching. And he did. And pretty soon bones started coming together and pretty soon, Tennant and flesh. And all of a sudden, he was watching this whole valley be transformed in front of him. All these dead people, but they were still dead and he was looking at them. And then what did God say? He said, prophesy the breath, the wind of God, the breath of God will come into them. And all of a sudden, as he's preaching, the spirit of God came upon these bodies and they came alive.
[00:32:27] And that's exactly what happens when we hear the word of God. Because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And as our hearts open itself and we hear God's word, and his spirit now impregnates that word, we come spiritually alive.
[00:32:44] We move from death to life.
[00:32:47] It's beautiful.
[00:32:49] That's powerful.
[00:32:53] We were praying this morning, and one of our brothers in Christ was praying, and he was talking about all the glorious things God did. And right in the middle of that, the spirit of God just quickened. In my mind, I'm actually witnessing a greater miracle.
[00:33:06] You go, what's the greater miracle?
[00:33:08] That God himself would live inside of us. That God himself would tabernacle in human bodies. And if you and I have surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ, you realize what's going on. You have Christ living within you. God himself is now tabernacleing in your human body. How many go wow.
[00:33:30] Maybe you need an epiphany of that. It'll really come alive. Wow. God is living inside of me. Whoo. That's amazing stuff.
[00:33:40] It was the breath of God entering into that enabled them to respond. You know, it's amazing to me how people can hear the word of God, no response. Hear the word of God, no response. But when the spirit comes and they hear the word of God, there is a response. It changes you. It's the same spirit who now enables the spiritually dead to hear the voice of the son of God and enter into life.
[00:34:03] The idea of hearing is to act in obedience on what Jesus is saying. That's why James says, don't be a hearer only, but a doer. Can I just say this? You haven't heard until you've done.
[00:34:15] See, James would say, show me your faith by your works.
[00:34:22] Faith without works is what? It's dead. You see, when you and I truly hear the voice of God and we act on it, that's true faith. So obedience is always linked to genuine faith. It's always together. That's the nature of it. Hearing. Jesus says, he who has ears to hear, let him hear. Let him what? Obey. Do it. We need to do it. We need to be doers of the word of God.
[00:34:52] A lot of people heard Jesus talk didn't change their lives, but the ones whom the spirit touched in their hearts totally brought transformation in their lives. And that's true in our lives. Let me move to the third thing that reveals Jesus'identity through his actions and his words is his authority to judge. Okay. You know, God has been judging humanity and nations all along. How many know God's a judge? We keep forgetting that we know God's loving. We understand that. I think we've got that messaging down now. I think this generation understand God is love.
[00:35:28] Not everybody understands it, but you know what I'm saying? I think we've heard that messaging, God is love. God is love. And he is love, but part of love is judgment. But we've forgotten that side because how many here, you don't appreciate injustice done to you, you don't appreciate abuse being done to you. You don't appreciate those things. You want judgment, you want justice, you want things to be right, you want things that are wrong to be right. How many here want wrong things to become right things? That's judgment. And Jesus has been commissioned to judge. Listen to what it says. The Bible speaks that the day of the Lord is coming. And for the believer, we're going, yeah, bring it on day of the Lord, Jesus come right.
[00:36:12] But the day of the Lord, when you read in the Old Testament, is a day of judgment. God's going to judge things. He's going to set things.
[00:36:19] Know now, if you've lived under oppression, you want the day of judgment. You want things to be straightened out, you want things to be turned right. We all do.
[00:36:30] And so that's what's going to happen. There's an understanding that a final judgment at the end of this present evil age will occur and the beginning of a new age will happen. And Jesus explains that all judgment has been given to him alone. The fact that Jesus has been given this authority suggests to me very strongly that only Jesus could be God because nobody could judge rightly apart from God. Listen, what he says to these guys, how many go? This is a pretty intense passage. He goes, first of all, I'm doing this on the Sabbath because my father and I are basically, I'm just doing what my father told me to do. I'm just doing what he's doing. Well, first of all, I don't think we can do it perfectly like Jesus did, number one. Number two, he says, no, I'm the one that gives life. Oh. Number three, I'm a judge.
[00:37:18] He's saying basically he's God. He's telling these guys he's God. Look, he says, moreover, the father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Now I don't know about you, but what Jesus is telling him, if you don't honor me, you're not honoring the Father. He's basically saying to these critics, you think you're worshiping God, but if you don't acknowledge who I am, you're not worshiping God. Does anybody think that's pretty strong?
[00:37:55] He's pushing back, guys, and then he's telling him, I'm God. The reason Jesus is entrusted with all judgment is because the father wants him to be honored. The father wants the Son to be honored.
[00:38:10] The fact that the Father desires Jesus to be honored is another significant point in this revelation of who Jesus is. God will not share his glory with anyone. The fact that he's prepared to share his glory with Jesus suggests to me that he's God.
[00:38:25] It's another argument. Carson says the Jews were right in detecting that Jesus was making himself equal with God. But this does not diminish God. Indeed, the glorification of the Son is precisely what glorifies the father. Just as in Philippians two, nine to eleven. Remember this beautiful statement that Paul writes, where at the name of Jesus, every knee bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord and all is to the glory of God the Father. This is to the glory of God the Father. So when we glorify the Son, we're glorifying the father. And if we're not glorifying the Son, we're not glorifying the father. That's what he's telling us.
[00:39:10] Pretty strong stuff. And then he goes on to say here, and he has given him Jesus authority to judge because he is the son of man. Now, I got to pause here. Do you know that that term Jesus kept calling himself the son of man? The son of man. You read it in Mark a lot. The son of man can be taken in different ways. But I want to tell you, there is a text of scripture that when you read it, you recognize it means the son of man is God himself.
[00:39:43] And when Jesus was answering here, and also when Jesus was being held before the Sanhedrin, just before, they asked him, are you the messiah? And Jesus actually says, I saw, I am. He said, and the son of man will come. And he's quoting from Daniel, chapter seven. Let me just give you this quotation. The name of son of man is taken from Daniel seven and is a picture of Jesus coming back to earth to judge. Look at what it says in my vision. Daniel has a vision. Remember those great beasts? And then finally it says, there arose a stone, and the stone destroyed the last great beast, and it could never be.
[00:40:26] Know the stone that came up and brought judgment to all the nation says, in my vision that night I looked. And there before me was one, like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. Who is the son of man?
[00:40:57] It's Jesus. So Jesus is God.
[00:41:01] Jesus is God, the second person in the Trinity. That's who it is. That's what we're talking about here. Jesus goes on to say, do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice.
[00:41:16] Then he goes on to say, and come out, those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. Well, we got to pause here for a minute, and I think, especially in an evangelical church, and I need to emphasize this, that genuine faith in Christ should bring transformation in life so that you and I will live a life, that what we will do is good.
[00:41:40] And what it is is to be different than what people are doing, which is evil. And we will be judged not based on the fact that we've said the right prayer or said the right things, but based on how we lived. And how we lived is conditioned on what we actually believed about Jesus and have received Jesus and have obeyed Jesus and have done what Jesus asked us to do. How's that? I think it's a little more developed, and I think we've underdeveloped this understanding so that people say, well, I said this prayer. I've been saved for 30 years now, but I haven't been to church in 30 years. I don't do anything right. I'm going, you're just fooling yourself.
[00:42:15] That's not the way it works.
[00:42:19] By myself, I can do nothing. This is Jesus talking. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just for I seek not to please myself, but him who sent me what Jesus is saying. The father can totally entrust judgment to me because I'm only going to do what my father wants me to do. How many say, that's amazing? Wouldn't it be amazing if you could say about your life, I'm only doing what the Father's telling me to do. I'm only saying what the father's telling me to say. I'm living in perfect obedience to my father in heaven.
[00:42:50] That's when I become like Jesus.
[00:42:53] That's the goal in our lives, that we're becoming more like Christ.
[00:42:58] Craig Keener then says this. The point is that if Jesus has authority to raise the dead at the last day of this era, then how much more does he have authority to heal on the Sabbath, the last day of the week?
[00:43:12] Good point. You know, then Tasker says, resurrection or judgment are in fact the final things which men and women are confronted in Jesus. That's why his revelation of God is so determinative for mankind. His first coming in human flesh is indirectly a coming in judgment. For inevitably separates believers from unbelievers, the former, the believers pass over at once from spiritual death to eternal life. So Jesus can say not only that the hour is coming, but that it is. Now is when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live.
[00:43:53] Jesus has been given this divine gift of eternal life, to give it to others, Jesus is the one that does that. So just think about in conclusion what's been said here. Jesus even now is speaking his words to us. And if we respond to him, we also can experience spiritual eternal life that delivers us from separation from God.
[00:44:17] We can experience God's life, his spirit, coming into our innermost being and having a relationship with us. Jesus makes the most challenging remarks to his critics. To dishonor the Son is to dishonor the Father. To reject the Son is to reject the father. These religious leaders believed that they were honoring God, but in reality were actually dishonouring him because of their criticism and rejection of the Son. Jesus'response to his critics came out of what an awareness of his identity and an understanding of his purpose. The same is true for us. Do we know who we are? Once we understand that we're God's children living to fulfill our father's purpose, I think we can be empowered to overcome our critics. We can handle the persecution. We can say, hey, that's fine. I realize what's going on. John is telling us that Jesus is God. He's the one who gives us eternal life. He's the one who will judge our lives based on our response to him and how that response has shaped our lives. Let's stand.
[00:45:32] So this morning, we're beginning a brand new year. And, you know, my prayer is real simple today.
[00:45:41] I've been praying a certain way. I believe that we're hearing the words of God. We're hearing the voice of God. And in our spirit. I mean, if we've already given our life to Christ, in truth, there's an authenticity, and it's shaping us. It's shaping the way we live. It's shaping our desires. It's shaping the direction we want to please the father.
[00:46:04] There is a change that's happening in our lives. We're walking in obedience to him. How many go, this is all important stuff.
[00:46:12] I think this is critical. And as you and I, purpose in our heart, say, you know what? The beginning of this year, I want to more faithfully follow God.
[00:46:24] I want to live my life in a more obedient manner. I want God to be reflected through my life. I want to be more effective and more fruitful than ever before. See, I think that's the prayer of a child of God. And I think as we begin this new year, wouldn't it be great? We're saying, okay, no excuses for me. I'm not going to make any. I'm just going to do what God's asking me to do. I think that's important.
[00:46:49] I'm going to pursue God. I'm going to get to know him better. I'm going to understand his will. I'm going to walk in his ways. I want to reflect his life to other people.
[00:46:58] If you have that in your heart, God's going to use you in 2024 in an amazing way, in a greater measure than ever before, because that's what God's looking for. He's looking for obedient servants, obedient children. He's looking for people. He can say, okay, I can entrust something to you because I know you're going to follow through on it. How many can see what I'm saying?
[00:47:22] Okay, but maybe you're here today and you say, you know, pastor, I think I've had a kind of an erroneous concept of Christianity.
[00:47:31] I've been told you just pray a sinner's prayer and that's it. We can go forward. I don't have to worry about how I live or what I do. I'm going then you haven't heard the total message.
[00:47:41] First of all, it's a call to repentance, which is a change of mine. And it's a surrender to God. And I'm exchanging my old life for his new life. And I'm going to start moving and walking with God and towards God. See, that's what it's about.
[00:47:58] It's a transformed life. And last week I preached on don't be conformed to the values of this world, but be transformed. How? By the renewing of our mind that we begin to understand the ways of God. And I challenged us last week to spend time in his word.
[00:48:13] Have we embraced that challenge? Are we spending time with God? Are we waiting on him this year? Every single day, so that I can know the words of God, so I can know his will, I can obey them and act on them.
[00:48:28] There's got to be a reality to this. It's practical. Christianity is very practical.
[00:48:35] You can get super spiritual on me, but that doesn't fake me out at all. Tell you that right now, I'm looking at life. I'm a very practical person. I'm just going, okay, show I'm from the state of Missouri. I'm from the show me state. Let me see know. Let me see the fruit in your life. That's what I'm looking at. I think God looks at it that way, too. He's looking at our lives. Am I acting on what? God says, maybe you're here today. Say, you know what? I need to commit my life to God anew. Maybe that's what I need to be doing today. Or maybe you're here today and you say, you know, I recognize, you know what? I have never really surrendered my life to Jesus, but the spirit of God's been talking to me today, and he's calling me to move from death to life.
[00:49:21] He's saying, I want to resurrect you. I want to change you. I want to transform you. I want to give you a new nature. Isn't that beautiful? God wants to do that. And maybe that's you today. And I'm going to have everybody bow their head for a moment. Let me just start it with the last thing I said. Maybe you're here today. Say, I acknowledge right now I am not living for Jesus, but I recognize the spirit of God's talking to me today, and I want to surrender fully to him today. That's me. Just raise your hand. I think that's good. Yeah. Okay. Wonderful. Some people are saying, yeah, I'm going to do that. It's great. Beautiful.
[00:49:59] Beautiful.
[00:50:01] It means that you probably believe in Jesus, but you're just saying, I'm surrendering.
[00:50:06] I'm giving him authority in my life. Think about it as this way. I'm a servant.
[00:50:12] He's my sovereign. He's the king. If he asks me to do something, no problem, I'm going to do it. I understand my relationship, or even if I know myself as a son, if I really love my father and he asked me to do something, I'm not going to bucket. I'm going to do it. I'm not going to make excuses. I'm just going to go do it. Because I know if my father asked me to do something, I can do it. He's not going to ask me to do something I cannot do. He's only going to ask me to do the things I can do with his help.
[00:50:42] I can do it with his help, and I'm going to do it. It's beautiful. Well, let's pray. Today, father, we just thank you. Today, as we've surrendered ourself anew and afresh the beginning of a new year, we want to be a people that spends time with you, hears your word, understands your ways, and begins to live in obedience to what you're saying to us, lord, as we do that we know, we're going to begin to reveal the father to the people around us, that our lives are going to be changed it's all part of walking with you and growing in you and developing in you and becoming more fruitful and more effective in you. Lord, you have a game plan. You have things prepared in advance for us to do. As a matter of fact, your word declares that, that you have prepared good works in advance for us to do, and we're only going to do those things and get to those places if we walk in obedience to you, and I pray this year would be a year that all of us would live in a deeper level of obedience than ever before, and we would see more fruit and more effectiveness in our lives that you would surprise us and use us in ways way beyond that we could have ever imagined or even considered. You're going to bring people into our lives. You're going to bring conversations into our lives. You're going to bring opportunities into our lives maybe we've never had before, but we know we're walking with you and it's going to get exciting. I believe there's going to be challenging moments in 2024, but there's also going to be exciting moments in our lives.
[00:52:15] And we thank you, Lord, because we heard these words, we realized, Jesus, you're not just another person. You were actually God amongst us. You are the God who's going to judge us. You're the God who gives us life. You're the God who raises us from the dead. And so our loyalty is completely to you today, and we thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you. As you leave this morning.
