What do you think about when you think about heaven? I read the story of a little girl who was outside with her dad one night. The only lights were the dazzling stars in the sky. And she turned to her dad and said “If this the wrong side of heaven, and it’s so beautiful, what do you think the right side of heaven will look like?”

Now the book of Revelation tries to paint a picture of the beauty of heaven, it speaks of streets paved with gold, and gates and walls of precious stones and jewels. And the point of all that imagery was to help us understand that – heaven is going to be one of the coolest places you’ve ever seen.

Today, numerous songs we sing declare that same excitement: One of those songs is “I'm satisfied with just a cottage below, a little silver and a little gold. But in that city where the ransomed will shine. I want a gold one that's silver lined. (Chorus) I've got a mansion just over the hilltop, in that bright land where we'll never grow old. And some day yonder we will never more wander, but walk on streets that are purest gold.”

When we hear songs like that - there’s something about the music and the words of those songs that declares: HEAVEN IS A PLACE TO GET EXCITED ABOUT.

Revelation 22:1–5 reveals the end of the story — and it looks strikingly like the beginning. God restores what was lost in Eden, but greater, eternal, and unbreakable. Humanity is healed, creation is renewed, and God dwells with His people face to face.

1 “The river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”      • The river is a symbol of God’s life-giving presence      • In Eden, a river watered the garden; here, it flows from God Himself      • No barriers, no distance, no drought — pure, unfiltered life

2 “On each side of the river stood the tree of life… yielding fruit every month.”      • Humanity was banished from the tree in Genesis      • Now the tree is accessible, abundant, and eternal      • Its fruit never runs out; its leaves bring healing to the nations God doesn’t just forgive — He heals. He doesn’t just restore — He multiplies.

3 “No longer will there be any curse.”      • The curse of Genesis 3 is fully reversed      • No more decay, division, disease, or death      • The world is finally as God intended We live in a world still groaning, but Revelation promises the curse has an expiration date.

4 “They will see His face.”      • The deepest longing of the human soul is fulfilled      • No veil, no temple, no separation      • God’s name on our foreheads means identity, belonging, and ownership Heaven is not about a place — it’s about a Person.

5 “And they will reign for ever and ever.”      • Humanity’s original calling (Genesis 1:26–28) is restored      • Not passive existence, but active partnership with God      • Eternal purpose, eternal joy, eternal authority God doesn’t just save us from something — He saves us for something.

Revelation 22:1–5 is God’s final promise: The story ends in life, not loss. In healing, not hurt. In glory, not grief. Eden is not just restored — it is perfected.

A little 6-yr-old girl came home from VBS one day and excitedly said: “Mom, God’s so neat, and heaven’s so great. Could me and Gloria go there for a sleep-over on Saturday?” That little girl understood what heaven’s all about – GOD’S NEAT… AND HEAVEN’S GONNA BE GREAT. Now there are some people who don’t believe that. They say they believe Heaven will be boring, monotonous, and dreary.

A popular Irish Playwright named George Bernard Shaw, observed, “Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane, so dull, so useless, so miserable, that nobody has ever ventured to describe a whole day in heaven…”

Revelation 19:1-7 tells us “After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just” … And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who was seated on the throne, saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" And from the throne came a voice saying, "Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great." Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready…”

People pay good money to go to concerts where things like that happen. Concerts where people are just jumping up and down with excitement. I mean - that kind of thing is not boring… UNLESS you don’t like the music, or unless you don’t like who’s onstage. There are many in the world today who aren’t going to like the music in heaven – because it’s all about Jesus and worshipping God. And they won’t like who’s onstage - because that would be Jesus. So, of course they’re going to be bored. They’ll be bored out of their minds.

But, there’s going to be a lot more than singing & rejoicing going on in heaven. Revelation 22:5 says that “(We) will see his face, and his name will be on (our) foreheads. And night will be no more. (We) will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be (our) light, and (we) will reign forever and ever.” We’re going to REIGN, and that means we’re going to be doing SOMETHING. I don’t know what exactly WHAT we’ll be doing, but I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be enjoyable.

Back in the book of Genesis, we read that “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:15-16

WHAT’S THAT SAYING? It’s saying that God gave Adam and Eve work to do. And God gave them the Garden of Eden … which was THEIR place to look after and to take care of. In that Garden, they REIGNED as King and Queen. Now, is that what’s going to happen in Heaven? I don’t know. But I DO know this: when God gave Adam and Eve a place to reign… it wasn’t boring. It was a time of joy and pleasure. And when Jesus returns God promises we will REIGN, and that will be a time of joy and pleasure.

ILLUS: Randy Alcorn — wrote a book called Heaven … and he wrote “Our belief that Heaven will be boring betrays a heresy — that God is boring. There’s no greater nonsense. Our desire for pleasure and the experience of joy come directly from God’s hand. He made our taste buds, our adrenaline, our nerve endings, etc. which convey pleasure to our brains. Likewise, our imaginations and our capacity for joy and excitement were made by the very God we accuse of being boring. Are we so arrogant as to imagine that human beings came up with the idea of having FUN?” OF COURSE NOT!

There’s an old hymn that says “Heaven is WONDERFUL place, filled with glory and grace. I’m gonna see my Savior’s face, cause heaven is a wonderful place.” And heaven’s going to be a wonderful place… partly because of what’s NOT going to be there; and partly because of what WILL be there! So, what’s NOT going to be there in heaven?

Well, Revelation gives us a list. Revelations 21:3-5 “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

We can keep a list of things he know WON’T be in heaven. In heaven “there’ll be no more cancer. No more divorce. No more rejection or loneliness. No more depression. No more wheelchairs or pacemakers. No more radiation or chemotherapy. No more crosses along the side of the road. No more child abuse. No more rape. No more funeral homes or orphanages or nursing homes. No more treatment centers. No more Pink slips or foreclosures. No more quarantines or face masks or social distancing.” That’s a lot of stuff that’s NOT going to be going on in heaven.

Now, there’s going to be ONE thing in heaven that will make it all worthwhile. BACK TO VERSES 3-5 of our TEXT “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light.”

What’s going to be there in heaven? GOD! The one thing that will make everything worthwhile in heaven will be God. He will be there waiting for us, and He’ll make EVERYTHING new! Jesus said “Let not your hearts be troubled.” But why would we be troubled? Because this is a hard world… and it hurts to live here. But then Jesus goes on to say: “Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3

What Jesus was saying was this: I’m coming back for you. And when I come, I’ll have a place prepared JUST FOR YOU. One of the main themes of Revelation is this: God’s coming back. And He’s coming back for you. And when He comes back you’re going to have everything you didn’t have on earth.

CLOSE: The story is told of the days when doctors visited their patients at home. It was obvious the patient didn’t have long to live and as the doctor was about to leave, the sick man called out to him: "Doctor, I am afraid to die. Can you tell me what lies on the other side?" The doctor was very quiet for a moment and then said, "I don’t know." "You do not know? You are a Christian and you do not know what is on the other side?" The doctor’s hand was on the doorknob… and on the other side of the door there was the sound of scratching and whining. It was the doctor’s dog which he had brought with him. And as he opened the door the dog leaped into the room and jumped up on him… and eagerly licked his face. Suddenly the Doctor realized how to answer the man’s question. "Did you see what my dog just did? He’s never been in this room before. He didn’t know what was inside. He just knew that I was here … and that was enough. When the door opened, he pushed through – excited that I was here. Now, I know very little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing: I know my Master is there, and that is enough. And when the door opens, I’m going in.”

John 8:1-20

Good morning, I hope everybody's enjoying the weather. It's starting to get hot, so I should take advantage of it. It's been a cold June, and it's been annoying.

Over the spring, I had the opportunity to work with 6th graders in a math class at Eisenhower Intermediate School near Toledo, Ohio. This was one of my placements. During that time, I was told to make a lesson and instruct it with these students. I grouped them up and had them go through various activities. At one of these activities, there was a group of 6. They were all working on a problem.

The problem required them to get a tape measure, write down all their different heights, and find the answer to the question doing that. There was this one group of about 6 students, who was getting really heated. They were arguing, going back and forth about how to get the answer.

I tried not to step in unless it seemed like I really needed or they asked me a question. The arguments go on for a few minutes.

They ask Professor, Mr. Allen, will you come and help us out? I come over, and there's are two different camps that have different ideas on how to solve this question. I come over, and I see all of them are wrong. Not one of them is on the right track. They all are missing the mark and failing to answer the question right. I helped them out. That's just a good point that we are not just like those children.

We, as people, often are wrong. We will bicker and argue, do this and that, and we will often still not be close to the mark. Today, this sermon will be going over John 8:1-20 specifically.

If you'd like to turn to there, that is where the bulk of this sermon will be. To start, I will read verses 1-4.

Now, early in the morning, He came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. And He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to him, Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.

The first thing that came to my mind when I was reading this passage was when Jesus was with the woman at the well in John 4. This was the Samaritan woman He had shown grace when He was talking to her, and it was very out of place because she was a Samaritan. He's not supposed to be seen with her, yet He was with her.

In verses John 4:16-18, it says, I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, you are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.

What you have just said is quite true. This shows that Jesus, before this point in the Bible, had already dealt with adulterous women, women who were with men that were not their husband. He had already shown how He was going to act with these kind of women before. When He was with the woman at the well, He showed patience, kindness. He was not quick to condemn her. He merely pointed out her sin. And here in John 8, a group of men had brought Him a woman in a similar position.

Moving on, verses 5-6 say, Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. What do you say? This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stopped, stooped down, and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.

From what I can find, this is likely referencing Deuteronomy 17:1-7. What the Jews are telling Him is Moses' law.

That says, and it is told you, and you if hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is indeed true and certain that such an abomination has been committed in Israel, then you shall bring out your gates that man or woman who has committed that wicked thing and shall stone to death that man or woman with stones. Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses. He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one. The hands of the witness shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil among you.

This shows what the old law commanded. You have more than one witness to put to death people that do these types of sins, adultery, idol worship, the old law was ruthless and clear. Destroy the sin from your society. That is why God flooded the world, or just why He decimated Sodom and Gomorrah for their transgressions, so should His people destroy the sin.

Let's move on. Verses 8 through 9 say, so when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. And again, He stooped down and wrote on the ground, Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest, even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

None of them threw stones. Why? In Deuteronomy it's very clear we should be stoning these people. They should be killed for their transgressions.

Let's quickly look at Matthew 7:1-5. When all the time there is a plank in your own, you hypocrite. First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from others.

This is not too dissimilar to those children who were bickering and arguing and calling each other names because they thought they were right and their other classmates were wrong. Are we, like those little kids when we were pointing our fingers at our fellow man. How horrible of you to commit this sin. How awful of you to do this thing. That same finger could be turned around and pointed at you.

In Romans 3:23 it says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That is all. It is very clear. All of us have fallen short. Imagine one day the Cleveland Browns called you and asked you if you wanted to be their new GM. Or a restaurant asked you to come in and be their chef. I don't know about you, but I have no idea how to run either of those things. I'm not qualified to do that. How am I qualified to do those things when I have no idea? None of us have any idea on how to go through life in a pure and perfect way by ourselves.

Let’s move on again, to verses 10-11, when Jesus had raised himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, no one, Lord. And Jesus said to her, neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.

Jesus did the same thing here that He did with the woman at the well.

He didn't deny her sin. He didn't say this didn't happen or you're not wrong for doing this thing, but He showed patience. He showed understanding. He showed that though you may have done this, there is hope for you yet. There is salvation. He asked her to go and commit no more sin.

I want to focus on something she said too. No one, Lord. She is acknowledging who He is. That is something many of the Jews that were coming to Him would not do as we will see later in this very chapter. They question Him and who He is, but this sinner, this adulterer, is the one that is clearly showing that she believes who He says He is. She believes what He says.

Let's look at John 3:16-21 real quick. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Jesus did not come down here to stone each and every one of us for the sins we have committed. He has not come down here to set us afire and call in a great flood to wipe us all away. He has come here to save us. He has come here to wash away our sins in His blood. He has come here to take our punishment for us so that we might be saved and offer us the gift of life. When Jesus came to the earth, that old law, that old creed that stood, that told people to stone the adulterers was done.

All have sinned. If people don't come to him, they will be condemned regardless. Why would you want to rush it? Why do it now when you could give those people time and they could be saved?

Moving on to verse 12. Then Jesus spoke to them again saying, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

Verse 13 says, the Pharisees therefore said to him, you bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not true. He bears witness of himself. He's the one saying these things. He's the one saying I am the son of God. How can we just believe your word? How can we take your word for truth and fact? How can we trust you? Back in the Deuteronomy, it said do not convict someone with one witness. You need two or three. Jesus is not just one person. At this point in His life, He had already committed dozens of miracles. He had already turned water into wine. He had already healed many individuals.

Let's look to see how Jesus answered in verses 14 through 18. Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true. For I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. You judged according to the flesh. I judged no one. And yet if I do judge, my judgment is true. For I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one who bears witness of myself and the Father who sent me bears witness to me. It's not just His word. It's not just His eyes that bear witness. As He says Himself, His Father bears witness as well.

Let's look back at verse 15. You judged according to the flesh. You judged based off your own earthly beliefs, based off your own earthly impulses. You were letting the flesh guide you, not the spirit, not the soul. Jesus said, I judged no one. I did not judge by the flesh, yet if I do judge, my judgment is true. Because He is with the Father. Jesus has made it clear at this point that He is the Son of God.

Moving on again, in verses 19 it says, then they said to Him, Where is your Father? Jesus answered you know neither me nor my Father. If you have known me, you have known my Father also. I wonder what Jesus felt at this moment. Do you think He was annoyed or confused by the question? Was He just tired of their constant redundancy because they keep asking the same thing over and over again. This isn't the first time He's been questioned like this. I'm quite sure this isn't the first time that these very people have asked this question.

Was it not made clear that He was the Son of God before this? When He had turned water into wine, when He had healed the lame? Were the miracles He performed in the Father's name not enough to satisfy?

Whenever I read passages like this one, I just think of all the Christmas movies I watched as a kid with Santa Claus. Where people would be like, Oh Santa, why don't you just show yourself to the world? Then everyone would believe in you. Then all their problems would be fixed. They would always respond with seeing is not the same as believing.

Many of these people that questioned Jesus in that time got to see these miracles, see His works firsthand. They bore witness to His greatness and who He was, yet they did not believe. They were the ones to cast the stones. I guess that just tells me that I must be diligent. Because if people who were there in that day could not overcome their own flesh, could not let go of their own earthly desires for the Lord that was standing right in front of them, how easy of a time will I as a sinner with just the Bible in front of me have as well? How diligent do I need to be to properly follow the Lord my God? Even the apostles struggled at points. Very much so.

Moving back to verse 20 says, These words Jesus spoke in the treasury as He taught in the temple, and no one laid hands on him, for His hour had not come yet.

I want to look at Joshua 1:9 real quick. It says, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged. For your Lord, your God, will be with you wherever you go. Jesus and the Lord will be with you as you go through life. Jesus knew He was safe here. He could keep on preaching, keep on saying His word, keep on professing the Lord's commands. He knew He'd be safe because He knew that the Lord was with Him and that it was not His time.

He knew He still had time on this earth. Do not be afraid as we go through life. Do not be afraid as we go through trials and tribulations.

We can be assured that God is with us. We may not be capable of making the right decision.

We may get into arguments. We may point each other and say, We are right. We have the answer. We have the solution. Then God will come around like I did to those sixth graders and say, No, you're both wrong. But with God in our ear, with God on our side, we have a guide and an advisor greater than any other. We will be wrong. If we listen to His word, to His testament, to His guidance, we can be confident that He will point us in the right direction. We can be confident that He will witness it all. When the time comes for us to stand before judgment, Jesus will stand with us proclaiming that we proclaimed His name.

I ask, If you have not come to the Lord in baptism, why wait any longer? He has already given you so much time, more than many others. Thankfully, this is not the day where if they found you guilty of a certain sin, they would stone you. You have more time than that. You have more time to come to him.

If you have not been baptized for the remission of your sins, I ask that you do not wait, that you come to the Lord. If you wait too long, it may be too late.

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. John chapter 6. John has told us that his purpose in writing has been to instill true saving belief in the reader. We left off last time in John 6:47 where Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”[ESV] This is what John wants the reader to see.

John is also teaching us what false faith looks like. Our observation has included various people in encounters with Jesus, the Samaritan woman, Nicodemus and the paralyzed man at the pool.

Jesus is now in the synagogue at Capernaum. The crowds have come across the Sea of Galilee to be fed just like they had been fed miraculously the day before with the miracle that fed the 5000. Jesus tells them that He is the bread of life who has come down from heaven and the reason they do not come to Jesus is because the Father has not drawn them (6:44). In John 6:47-52 we're in the middle of this story as Jesus is having this discussion, and He has an audience that is full of unbelief. They are disputing against Him because of describing Himself as, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” For Him to have come down from heaven as the bread of life means He's the son of God. He is the Messiah.

I. Continuing Unbelief (John 6:48-52) – “48. I am the bread of life. 49. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52. The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”” Let's stop there. This first section shows us the problem of continuing unbelief.

A. They still are not listening to what Jesus is saying as He continues to try to teach them. He's trying to bring them into a spiritual understanding, trying to get them to understand that the ultimate problem is their spiritual death. Notice how He words that in verse 51 – “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” Obviously, He is not talking about physical life here.

1. If you will see Me as the bread of life, if you will understand who I am, you will have spiritual life, eternal life. You will live forever if you comprehend this. 2. He's trying to show them the superiority of who He is as “the bread of life” in contrast to what the Israelites received in the wilderness under Moses. Those people all died.

B. Let’s think about the wilderness for a moment. Why did the fathers who ate manna in the wilderness die? Obviously, they were going to die physically anyway. I don't care if they ate the manna in the wilderness or not, everybody is going to die at one point or another. Why they died in the wilderness is what Jesus is driving at.

1. I’m sure you remember the story. Read with me Hebrews 3:16-19, “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” 2. When we read the story of them in the wilderness what is the thing that we read about them doing over and over? They are complaining and grumbling.

a) They come to the Red Sea and complain - Moses, you took us the wrong way. We are all going to die out here. Then the miracle of the Red Sea. b) What are we going to eat? We are in the middle of nowhere. Here comes the manna. c) We are sick and tired of eating mana, here comes the quail. There is no water.

3. They are complaining constantly, why? Because they are filled with unbelief. They don't believe that God is going to provide what they need. Unbelief is why they are grumbling. We can make a couple of observations here.

II. Grumbling is a symptom of continuing unbelief – Back in verse 41, what are the people doing about Jesus? It says “So the Jews grumbled about Him…” Why are they grumbling? They are grumbling because of their unbelief.

A. John 6:36. “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” John in his gospel continues to use imagery from Israel’s history recorded in the Old Testament to show Jesus is the Son of God. Here we see Israel is acting toward Jesus the exact same way it acted toward God when they were in the wilderness in the days of Moses.

1. The people are persisting in unbelief as seen in their grumbling and… the result will be the same. They will miss out on the life the Father is offering through Jesus. 2. Grumbling is symptomatic of unbelief because it shows that we do not have faith in God. It shows that we do not believe that God will provide, do not believe that God has our best interests at heart and that God is not paying attention to our circumstances. That is what we are saying to God when we grumble and complain.

B. Verse 51 sums up the message. Jesus is the living bread that came down from heaven. Jesus has said this more then once but now He is going to be very direct about what it means for Him to be the living bread. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” “And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Jesus is going to give His body as the means of life for the world. This throws the crowd completely out of sorts. C. Verse 52. “The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”” Every time Jesus gives a declaration in this chapter the response is; you've got to be kidding me. Here they do it again. How can He say that we're supposed to eat His flesh? Again, we are seeing the author showing us the lack of spiritual depth in this audience. Repeatedly throughout these six chapters we are observing people whose minds and hearts are in darkness, do not care about God and cannot receive what God is teaching because they're blinded by the world. D. They're unwilling to think through what Jesus is saying. Jesus shows this in so many places.

1. We see that when we study the parables. Remember when the disciples come up to Jesus and say why do you always tell these parables? His response is “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.” 2. Parables acted as a sort of spiritual filter. People with calloused hearts and preconceived notions could hear the literal story and dismiss it, while the humble would be drawn in and seek for deeper meaning. I'm seeing who is going to try to learn and understand what I'm saying.

E. Jesus does not explain Himself here in a way that makes this scene simpler. Verse 53. “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”” Did that make it easier to understand?

1. Watch how it keeps going. “54. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59. Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.” 2. Did Jesus make it easier to understand? He just made it even harder and more challenging. They are continuing to take it at surface level, not thinking, not receiving, not listening to what Jesus is saying. Which leads us to our second observation.

III. Lack of spiritual seeking and spiritual depth - Our first observation was grumbling, complaining is symptomatic of continuing unbelief. A lack of spiritual seeking and a lack of spiritual depth - is also a symptom of continuing unbelief. The inability to want to dig in and try to figure out what Jesus is saying.

A. Sometimes people need the sledgehammer of the word of God to knock us out of this shallow, physical, material existence and perception and to open our eyes to something far bigger. Life is busy and at times intense, and focused on that, we are not seeing the greater thing. We're not seeing the spiritual plane. We're not listening to the word of God with spiritual ears and spiritual hearts. B. We take scripture on the basic level of just the words and do not see what it is telling us, (often more plainly than we think), as an aggregate. God did not make His word so hard that people can not understand it, but it can be challenging.

1. Nicodemus, you must be born again. How can I go back into my mother's womb? Come on now Nicodemus, get off the physical plane here. Come up to the spiritual level and think this through. 2. Woman at the well. Wouldn't it be great to not ever have to take a bucket and go to get water out of the well? Come on lady, come on up to the spiritual level. We are talking about the fountain of living water.

C. There is an important lesson here before we continue. We learn that the goal is not to dumb down the scriptures and oversimplify everything God said. God’s word is challenging not because God makes things hard but because our hearts are spiritually dull. When we hear things that are hard or confusing, we should not give up but dig deeper. We should not want sermons dumbed down to watery mush. D. We don’t want our Bible classes to be plain and basic. Jesus never did that. He never dumbed down God’s teaching. I know there are times when the teaching feels like it is over our heads. Don’t let that be discouraging but awe-inspiring and fill you with a desire to learn it. That is why I really like our type of bible class where everyone is involved and can ask questions about anything.

IV. What True Belief Looks Like (John 6:53-59) - Let's look at what Jesus means by all this because in this final section from verses 53 to 59, Jesus is now explaining what true belief looks like.

A. He's done it in a way that on the surface looks complicated. “… unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” What do you mean by that? Far from modifying the startling metaphor Jesus had adopted, He extended and restated it dogmatically.

1. Taken literally, the passage would be cannibalistic and repulsive, therefore requiring a spiritual understanding of it. 2. What He's doing is showing symptoms of continuing unbelief. You're grumbling and complaining and you lack spiritual depth and insight when I'm trying to teach you these things.

B. Over the years many well-respected commentators have voiced differing views about these verses. One popular opinion is that Jesus is talking about the Lord’s Supper. We can quickly see why this would be an attractive interpretation. Eating His flesh and drinking His blood sounds very much like the memorial of the Lord’s Supper where we take the bread to remember Christ’s body and take the fruit of the vine to remember Christ’s blood that was shed to establish the new covenant. Others say that is not the case. C. Let’s look at this idea for a moment. Jesus in these verses is referring to bread and saying I am the bread of life.

1. In Hebrew “bread” has two meanings. First a food composed of flour mixed with water and baked and second meaning is food of any kind. What does food do? It sustains life. We can readily see that He is comparing Himself as the bread of life with something we all know, food to support physical life. After all, they came to Him looking for more food as with the feeding of the 5000. 2. He also tells them to seek the food that endures for eternal life, and He says the Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The implication is this has something to do with the spiritual. Jesus is metaphorically comparing the food we take into our bodies which the body then uses to support physical life with Himself as spiritual food which supports our spiritual life unto eternity. Simplistically, and I think more accurately stated, we need food for physical life, and we need Christ for spiritual life.

D. Next, we see Jesus is using the idea for how we take in physical food to describe our need to take Him in. How do we take in spiritual food? To start with Peter writes in 1st Peter 2:2, “like a newborn baby, desire the pure milk of the word. Nourished by it, you will grow into salvation,”. The Hebrews writer in Hebrews 5:13-14 says, “Everyone who lives on milk is not used to the word of righteousness, because they are babies. But solid food is for the mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between good and evil.” E. Next let’s look at the Lord’s Supper. Jesus instituted this with His followers, “Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take and eat. This is my body.” He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from this, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many so that their sins may be forgiven.” (Matthew 26:26f) And with the command “Do this in remembrance of me”. F. In the 6th chapter of John Jesus is using the Metaphor of taking in food for physical sustenance to taking in Him for spiritual sustenance. In the Lord’s Supper Jesus is instituting for His followers, an ordinance to remember His sacrifice and death. You might say the first illustrates a need and the second is a reminder of what is accomplished by fulfilling that need. G. He says in verse 53, “… unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” The subject is still eating, still food and it is a spiritual subject. True faith is a life that is completely consumed by Christ. That's what He's simply expressing. H. In verse 40, Jesus said that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life. Same construction when then He says here, whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. Are these two different ideas? Not at all.

1. It is a metaphorical reference to the soul-saving benefit procured on behalf of the human family by Christ's atoning death on the cross and the shedding of His blood. The eating and drinking refer to the soul's proper appropriation of that benefit. 2. If you understood who I am, you would consume me. You would just eat, drink, breathe and live everything about Jesus because He is the one who will give you eternal life.

V. True Food - That's what verse 55 continues with. “My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” Jesus is truly what you need. He is what you need for living now. He is what you need for eternal life. He is what your soul needs. He is everything you need. He is that true food and for Jesus to say I'm the true food means there's no other food that's of any value or usefulness.

A. I thought about it like this, what would happen to us if all we ever ate were donuts? I mean besides the smile on our face that is. If all you ever ate were donuts, is that true food? It's food, but it is incomplete, and things are not likely to go well for you. It might be delicious and you might enjoy it, but your health is likely to suffer and, in the end, shorten your life. Yet, it is food.

1. There are all kinds of things in this world that are food. Jesus says I'm the true food. If you immerse yourself in all those other foods and all those other things that this world has to offer and you engage in that in this life, you might think you're satisfied just like eating donuts. 2. Eating donuts makes me happy and comfortable. I have joy from that, but it's not true food. Sooner or later, it's going to kill you. You're going down the wrong path. 3. Jesus comes along and says He is the bread of life that comes down from heaven. He says I'm the true food. There is nothing else but me. I'm the only thing that will satisfy your life. I'm the only thing that will give you life. I'm the only thing that will spare you from the disaster to come. Consume me. Follow me.

B. He is telling them to be immersed in Him. Eat, Drink, Live, and Breathe Jesus.

1. That's what true belief looks like. Verse 56 continues that. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them.” This is a great picture. It shows you are in a relationship. 2. Jesus told them earlier that the reason they could not believe was because the father had not drawn them, they had not been taught of God. They have not learned. We talked about that last week.

C. You have no relationship with me. You think you're close, but you're far away. You haven't been taught by me. Now apply what we see in these verses. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood, whoever eats, drinks, breathes, lives Christ, abides in Christ and Christ abides in them. This teaches us that the life of Christ is not about externals.

1. We cannot point to something in our life and say, I was baptized on X date and since I'm baptized, therefore I'm saved and I'm fine and I'm good. No. Your life must be consumed with Christ. That's what true saving faith looks like. Breathe Christ. Live Christ. That is the picture of what a true disciple looks like.

D. The message that He wants them to understand is they think they have a relationship with God. They think that they have true saving faith, but they do not because they do not see Jesus as the all-satisfying God who provides all that you need for life and godliness.

1. Instead, they are consumed by the things of this world. Therefore, Jesus says, feed on my flesh and drink my blood so that you can abide in me. If you do that you have a relationship with the father. 2. There's a relationship with Jesus when we are consumed by Christ. Notice verse 57 amplifies that. It gives the explanation perfectly. “As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father,…” Stop right there in this parallel. How does Jesus live because of the father? What He's saying is my life is completely consumed in the will of my father. I live because of my father. Everything I do is about my father. What my father says, what my father wills, my father's purpose, I live for that. I live because of that. 3. Apply that to us and that's what He's telling us as well. Our life is to be consumed in Christ. 4. Think back to chapter 4. They are in Samaria and the disciples have gone away into the city to buy food. Remember when the disciples come back and they're bringing Him food and Jesus says I've already eaten. They ask each other, who brought Him food? Notice the spiritual boldness that John points out repeatedly. Jesus says some amazing words here, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” 5. That's how Christ lives. That's how we live and everything about our life is completely about Christ. That we live and we are consumed in Him and our joy and satisfaction are found in Christ alone.

CONCLUSION: That's what true saving faith looks like. A couple thoughts from verse 53 where He says, “… unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Unless we are consuming Christ we have no life. We have nothing to stand on by ourselves. The only way we can possibly have life, the only hope that we have of life, is to be consumed with Christ. It is not our righteousness; it is not our goodness that gives us life.

When we attach ourselves to a relationship with Jesus, everything changes. We need the bread of life. We're dead in our sins. We are in the misery of our sins, but complaining and grumbling shows unbelief. We need to look at our lives and be cautious about this.

All the terrible difficulties that sometimes we complain about are really nothing. Or as Paul said, they're nothing to be compared with the glory that's to be revealed to us. Do we believe that God will carry us through? Do we truly believe that God is with us? Do we believe that He will carry us home? Of course, He will.

Second, lacking spiritual depth reveals our unbelief as well. Faith is all about a life consumed in Christ. Faith is all about obedience to him, loving Him, consumed by Him, because He is more precious than anything. He is true food. We must open our eyes and recognize there is nothing else more valuable, more useful, or more important than Jesus. He is your life.

We're singing an invitation song. Those who have come to Jesus as well as those who have not, take stock of your life. Do you see Him as the all-satisfying God? Do you see Him as your bread of life?

The world tells us there's all kinds of good food. God says, my son is true life. He is true bread. He is true food. Eat, breathe, and live Jesus Christ. Lift up your eyes from the things of this world.

Pray to God to say, I need to see you as all-satisfying. I need to see you as the bread of life. Read His word and see how good the Lord is. Start moving toward a deeper relationship with Him. To stop remaining on the present level that we may be spiritually.

If you have not seen Jesus as the all-satisfying bread of life, we invite you to turn away from your sins. Be immersed in water to have your sins washed away and begin that walk with Him. A walk that gives you eternal life. A walk that gives you hope and life that you do not have otherwise.

Whatever your need we invite you to come while we stand and while we sing.

# ??? Reference: Brent Kercheville

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. We are in the midst of a study of the sixth chapter of John’s gospel. Jesus is teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum telling the people that He is the bread of life. Jesus has come to give life, but the people have come to Jesus for the wrong reason. They have come for free food. They have come for what He will do for them, and not because of who Jesus.

They are so consumed in their physical desires that they cannot see their spiritual needs. They do not recognize their spiritual hunger and are blind to the offer Jesus is making.

In verse 40 Jesus has made a tremendous statement and an amazing offer. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Whoever will come to Jesus will never be cast out, will not be lost, and will be raised up on the last day. Let’s notice the people’s response to this amazing offer.

I. The People Complain – John 6:41-42 “So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?””

A. Verse 41 tells us the Jews grumbled. Here is Jesus saying I'm going to give you everything you need and they just start complaining because He said I am the bread that came down from heaven. We know His father Joseph so how can He can say I've come down from heaven? They reject that idea. They do not believe and we have seen this before in John's gospel, people will not believe. B. The light has come into the world. The Life has come into the world. I am the bread of life, and their response is in unbelief. They don’t want to believe who this Jesus is and what He is offering.

II. Drawn By The Father – John 6:43-44. Jesus answer to this I think is quite amazing and I submit to you quite challenging. I ask for you to bear with me as we go through this response that Jesus gives, verse 43, “Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.” Jesus did not answer their grumbling by performing some kind of miracle. He could do something to deal with this unbelief. Instead, He says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

A. There is a challenge in what Jesus just said. I'm going to read that again. I want the challenge of what Jesus said to sink in. No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him. That was a very big statement, and He continues, and I will raise him up on the last day.

1. This phrase has caused all kinds of writings and divisions. Take a moment and recognize that we just cannot pass these words off. We cannot come across a scripture that doesn’t fit easily into our mind’s view and just simply pass it off. 2. There is an answer here that we need to look at. Look at it as a challenge to our understanding. Jesus is saying something very bold to these people. He's telling them, you can't come to me on your own. The Father has to draw you in. Our problem is what He's trying to explain to them. 3. What is at stake? He is trying to get them to grasp where their unbelief comes from. I know in my own study when I find something like this I have a tendency to kind of whiz over those statements and pay attention to other parts of the sentences.

B. I also notice that in my own studies, and you might too, when reading a verse you've known all your life, you might miss particular details because you're used to hearing a certain point.

1. For example, Acts 2:38, one you probably know very well. “And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off,…” Don't just end the sentence there. Keep looking, “everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”” 2. It's the same thing Jesus just said here in John 6. You can't come to me unless the father draws you to me. Peter describes it in his sermon, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. 3. Galatians 1:6 says, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel" 4. 1st Corinthians 1:2 says – “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:” and in verse 9 “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” 5. We have been studying Jude. How does Jude begin? “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:” There are statements that are being made here, that we have been called by God. Christ comes to these people who are in unbelief and says, I don't want you to grumble. I want you to recognize there is a problem.

C. The problem is you can't come to Me unless the father draws you. What does that mean? How are we drawn? What does that look like? What is He trying to teach them?

1. There are those who use this sovereign act of God’s calling, to suppose that God draws some and not others. Doing that however would be to suppose that God is partial and unjust (see Acts 10:34). The murmurers in this passage had rejected the teaching of God relative to the lowliness of the Messiah, thus denying God's drawing of them unto Himself. The fact of rejection by some does not nullify the promise; the ones who respond will still be raised up on the last day. What is important for us to do in our study is to not stop studying here in verse 44 and build our doctrine. This whole chapter must be considered because it is one conversation with the Jews who saw the miracle of the feeding of the 5000.

III. How Are We Drawn? – He's explaining what this means in verse 45. “It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— then he gives this almost parenthetical comment—not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.”

A. We might put it this way; Understand what I mean, “taught by God” is not talking about God directly teaching you. No one has seen the father. I'm not talking about that kind of teaching, but only those who have been taught by the father can come to Christ. B. In verse 44 Jesus makes this important declaration. Nobody comes to Christ unless the father draws him. When you look at the next verse what He is saying is; The people who come to Christ, are those who have heard and learned from the father. In other words, everybody who does come to Christ will have learned from God, have been taught by God. Jesus then quotes the prophets.

1. He uses Isaiah 54:13 as His proof text. “All your children shall be taught by the Lord,…” They will all be taught of God. The point is; He is saying that being taught by God is how a person is drawn by the father to Christ. 2. What does that look like? What exactly does that mean? Those who have heard and learned from the Father come to Christ. Hearing and learning from the Father is how the Father draws us to Christ, and how we come to salvation.

C. Listen to 2nd Thessalonians 2:13-14. “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, (Notice that same kind of language) through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you (How?) through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1. Paul says I give thanks always about you because you have been taught by God. How did that happen? He called you through our gospel. We proclaimed the gospel to you and that is how you were drawn by the father. That is how you came to faith. 2. Think of that familiar verse, Romans 10:17. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Faith only comes one way. Through the hearing of the word of God. That's the only way faith comes. Mark talked about hearing recently and quoted “He who has ears to hear, let them hear” meaning to listen not just as to sound but for the meaning. In Matthew 15:10 when Jesus was teaching a multitude, He said “Hear and understand:”

D. These Jews believe that they are part of God's family, that they are in a covenant relationship with God, and Jesus is telling them, there is a problem. You haven't been taught by God. You have not been drawn by the father. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. No one in this room came to faith without the word of God. Nobody.

1. You can't have faith in Christ without the word of God. That's the way the world wants to have it though. If you just go up on a mountain somewhere and meditate for a while, you can know all you need to know about God and you'd be on your way to spiritual salvation and enlightenment. No, you won't. 2. If you would just do these exercises, if you do this, that or whatever, then you would have spiritual enlightenment. If you'd watch this or that TV personality enough, then you'd have all the enlightenment that you could possibly need. 3. Jesus said, nobody comes to Me unless the father draws him. Paul worded it by saying; It’s the gospel that called you. He would write to the Romans, Your faith came by hearing the word of Christ. That's how your faith came. You had to know the word of God. I think that's very important to understanding what verses 44 and 45 are saying.

E. Jesus words make quite a comment about these people’s knowledge of the scriptures. You are not coming to me because you have not been taught by the father. To say that to a Jew is a very big deal. Having somebody tell you haven't been taught by God at all, is quite insulting and quite challenging.

1. We can put these two sentences side by side and see clearly what Jesus is saying. “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (6:44). “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” (6:45). 2. Therefore, being taught by God is how the Father draws us to Christ. Hearing and learning from the Father is how the Father draws us. This is also what the rest of the scriptures teach.

F. By the way, this is exactly Jesus’ point in John 5:46 – “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”” You are the people of God. You were given the oracles of God. You should know scriptures. You were given all those things, and you haven't been taught by God.

1. Did they know the law? Did they have it memorized? Did they have the scrolls? Did they have the teachings? Did they recite the law? Did they read it in the synagogue on a regular basis? Did they worship and offer sacrifices? 2. All this yet Jesus says, you haven't been drawn by the father, you haven't been taught of God. Why? Because you haven't learned from the father. That is why you don't come to me. It's why you can't see Me as the savior, why you can't see Me as the bread of life.

G. God revealed His will, nature, and commandments to humanity by speaking through chosen prophets. This is exactly what Jesus is trying to get across. This is really the message. God, even in the scriptures, as He spoke in the prophets, said, this is the way I'm going to bring people to myself. Imagine if God had not done that. If God had not revealed one word to humanity, would we be able to come to the father? No. God had to intervene. That's the issue. He's trying to tell these people you're not okay. You're not right with God. In fact, you're far away from God. H. I’d like to look now at Jeremiah 31 where through the prophet God tells of the New Covenant. Jeremiah 31:31, where Jeremiah writes, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.”

I. He says, new covenant, not like the law of Moses. Here's what this covenant is going to look like. Verse 33, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”” J. What does it mean that God himself would put His law within them and write His law on their hearts? You will be taught by God. You will hear and learn from the Father. Think of what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” He is describing the ability of the word of God to penetrate the complex inward nature of man, to convict him of sin, to expose his hidden motives, and to judge the very nature of life itself.

1. Paul says in 1st Thessalonians 4:9, “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,” – The word of God is living and active. 2. God is drawing people to Christ through these words because this is where the power lies. These are the words of the father that are given to bring life and those who do not know these words will not find life. They will not come to the son. How have those Thessalonians been taught by God? Paul preached to them. He proclaimed to them the word of God.

K. Let me ask the question the other way so that we can see what Jesus is doing with these Jews. If Paul had not proclaimed the gospel to the Thessalonians would they have been loving one another as God commanded? To put it another way, do you of your own nature without knowing anything about God, love one another like you're supposed to? No. You love because God showed you how. This is His revelation to the world. Here's what love looks like. Here's how we're supposed to live. Here's what we're supposed to do.

1. On our own we don't do that. Even though we have the word of God, do we do exactly what He says? No, we still don't and if He had not revealed it to us, we certainly wouldn't have. 2. Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” We've all separated ourselves from God. There's none righteous no, not one. We've all walked away from God. 3. Isaiah 53:6, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;” If God did not intervene first, we are utterly lost.

L. Growing up I heard the idea that if I was really good and did right, that's what got God to love me. Everything was OK. God loved me because I loved Him first. No. God loved me first and intervened and revealed His will and sent His son. It is because of those things that I come to faith, and how I come to know God. That's how I have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

1. Remember in Luke 18: how the ruler comes up to Jesus and says; “Good Teacher…” “And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God” 2. When we don't see our sinfulness, when we don't see that we are far away from God, then we will never come to him. This is what Jesus was dealing with. You say you've come down from heaven. You're offering salvation and forgiveness of sins and life. They don't see that they need that.

M. He doesn't have to do a miracle to prove that He is the bread of life that comes from heaven. Jesus' argument is simply this. If you know the Scriptures properly and it is written on your heart the way it ought to be, you would know who I am and you would see me as the bread of life.

1. Peter in 1st Peter 1:23 writes, “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, (how?) through the living and abiding word of God;” 2. That is how you find salvation. That is how you are taught by God. That is how you hear and learn from the Father. 3. Peter goes on, “for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls," No one likes to hear that, "but the word of the Lord remains forever.” Now look at the end, "And this word is the good news that was preached to you.” How did you come to faith? The word of God. The word of God was preached to you.

N. This tells us something so important about the nature of the word of God, and it gives us a responsibility to proclaim it. People are not going to wake up in their homes today, and out of the blue say; I believe in Jesus and I'm going to go to church and I'm going to follow Him with all my heart. They must hear the word of God.

1. We have a great responsibility before us to understand the power of God's word, to see what it does, because this is God's means of revelation to save the world. It's not going to come in a dream, it's not going to come in a vision, nor will you hear some kind of whisper in your ear. You're not going to see something or think something out of the blue. We are all taught by God because He has revealed Himself and that revelation brings us to faith. 2. Jesus is telling them don't grumble because the problem is you don't know the scriptures. He is not the problem; their problem is not knowing the scriptures beyond just the words.

CONCLUSION: As I spent more time in John’s gospel, I saw it would be easy to read of the people Jesus met and think, “Wow! How did they miss that?” Then I realized we could memorize this book, come on Sunday and worship and still not be taught of God. There is a way to come every Sunday, sit in the pew, read the Bible every day, pray every day, try to be moral and right and still not be taught by God. That was their problem.

They knew the law but were not taught by God. Jesus is trying to teach them, when you believe you will have eternal life, and that is going to come from the knowledge of the scriptures. That saving faith is generated from knowing His word.

A preacher put it this way; “I learned the scriptures from my youth, and I could quote to you every verse, but I had not been taught by God. These words were not yet written on my heart. They were not put within me. They were words on a page that did not have strength that I had not given it yet. It is not just merely academic knowledge. The Jews certainly had that.”

Consider: were the Jews ignorant of the scriptures? Of course not. They could quote the Torah. They knew the law of God. While they were worshiping God, offering their sacrifices, and reciting the law in the synagogue, they were not taught of God. Many today worship the same way. They attend, they participate, and they contribute.

God is drawing you through the scriptures to His Son. Why should you read the Bible? Reading and listening to the scriptures, gaining the knowledge they offer is how God’s law is written onto our hearts. If the Father is not drawing you to Christ, then you are wandering away. Will you listen to God’s drawing you to Him and receive Jesus as the bread of life, becoming your only pursuit?

Hear His words, listen to His calling. Listen to the great hope. Let us not be like these people who heard the great message of salvation and forgiveness of sins and eternal life and pursue false satisfaction saying to Him, Jesus I want a meal today, what are you going to do for me physically? I see Jesus shaking His head and saying, I am giving you the food to live an eternal life.

Take your eyes off the physical and come to the bread of life. Turn away from your sins and be immersed in water to enter that relationship with Him. Won't you come while we stand and sing.

# ??? Reference: Brent Kercheville

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. A quick review of where we are in John 6. On the previous day Jesus performed an amazing miracle, the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels, the feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, and at least 5,000 men were there.

The next day, these people who were on the east side of Galilee, came back in the morning wanting to be fed, and did not find Jesus there. They cross the Sea of Galilee, find Jesus in the synagogue in Capernaum, and they say basically, hey, we want to eat some more, perform some more signs for us.

Jesus, in verse 26, identified that the reason that they had come was not because they understood who Jesus was, it's not because they understood the meaning of the sign that Jesus is the Savior, that He is the Messiah, come to redeem the world.

They've only come for what Jesus will give them, and that is physical bread. They've come for breakfast and they want it free. It was on the basis of this that Jesus enters into a discussion with them. He told them not to put their effort or their labor into the food that perishes, but to labor for eternal life… labor for that food. He calls on them to believe in verse 29, saying that, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

What Jesus is calling for them to do, is to recognize that God has accomplished a great work, He has accomplished their salvation, and by necessity they are to then put their faith in the one whom God has sent—Jesus. That is where we pick up the story now, and we'll find that Jesus and this crowd have a lot more to say about these things. John 6:30.

I. Demanding Christ’s Service – Let’s start with John 6:30-31, “So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”” I think we can see what they are doing in this fascinating question and statement to Jesus.

A. What sign do you do so that we may believe you? We need a sign so that we may see for ourselves and know who you are and believe you. I suspect any of us who have read the story would think that what they had seen the day before was a really big sign! Five loaves and two fish, feeding thousands and thousands of people. This makes me think of Bill Engvall’s book, “Here’s Your Sign”. B. What they are asking for, and what we see in what they're saying, is something more. It is not simply that they did not remember what happened yesterday. Remember what the people have observed in him. In John 6:14 they recognized this is indeed the prophet who has come into the world. This is the one that Moses prophesied about. There would be one like him, that would rise and deliver the people.

1. What the people are saying is that Moses gave the people food to eat every day for 40 years. Moses provided manna every day. If Jesus is the new deliverer and savior of the people, then at least He could feed them every day with bread like Moses did. 2. It can even be argued that they would expect something greater than what Moses did since He claims to be the Son of God. If you are the new Moses, then you should at least do this for us. That is the implication behind them saying we want to see a sign. John is showing us their thinking. If you are just like Moses, then every day we can come out here and you will give us food.

C. Jesus' response to this is interesting. John 6:32-33. “Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.””

1. This is an interesting response because it corrects and contrasts with what they said. They said in verse 31, quoting the scripture, “Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 2. Jesus responds to that with a number of statements in this sentence that defy the understanding of these people. He tells them Moses didn't give you bread. Yet, that's not the whole point. You will notice there's a changing of tenses. “… it was not Moses who gave you the bread…”, but then He doesn't say, the father gave you bread. That's was not the point. 3. He says, “but my father, present tense, gives you the true bread from heaven.” The implication is not to say, it wasn't Moses, it was God. The implication is; what you received then wasn't the true bread at all. The father is giving you that bread now. 4. The father gives you the true bread. What Moses gave you wasn't the real bread. That was only for your physical need. The father is offering you the real bread, the true bread that you ought to be looking for. It is the bread that sustains the soul, provides spiritual growth and leads to eternal life. 5. Jesus drives that very carefully and says in verse 33, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” I see another implied contrast here. The manna was not for the world, that manna was for the people of Israel, and was not the true sustenance. The father is going to give you true bread and it will not be only for you as the physical bread in the wilderness was. It will be for the whole world.

D. There is something subtle in what Jesus says, and it seems the audience misses it. Notice in verse 33 that the bread of God “… is he who comes down from heaven…” Jesus speaks about Himself and declares that He gives life to the world. Jesus is offering something far greater and far superior to what was given in the wilderness… Himself. Notice the people completely miss this.

II. I Am The Bread of Life – John 6:34, “They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”” As we read that, we see they don’t get it. We should not be surprised though because throughout this gospel we have seen the spiritual blindness of people that Jesus has encountered.

A. It's almost as if they didn't hear that part. What they heard was the bread of God is what comes down from heaven and gives life. That sounds great! Bread comes down and gives us life! Sir, give us this bread always.

1. John continues to paint these audiences in spiritual blindness, darkened in the heart. We saw this with the Samaritan woman in 4:15. Jesus speaks of the living water, then she says to him, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or need to come and draw water. 2. Notice the parallel. 4:15, Sir, give me this water. 6:34, Sir, give us this bread. They are simply not understanding what Jesus is offering. 3. There is a consistent theme in this gospel. The people are spiritually blind and so consumed by pursuing their physical desires, wants and needs that they fail to recognize what is being offered to them. 4. The crowd wants this bread every day so that they can be physically fed by doing nothing. Are people like that today? Something for nothing? Something for minimum effort? Certainly. Advertisers know it, politicians know it. - Satan knows it.

B. Jesus is trying to get their minds on a spiritual plane. Stop laboring for the food that perishes. Stop worrying about your physical desires. Stop concerning yourselves with materialistic pursuits. Don't pursue Jesus for what He can give you. Pursue Him for who He is. Labor for the food that leads to eternal life. Here Jesus gets blunt, just as He did with the Samaritan woman, and He gets to the point.

III. Believing – Verse 35, “Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” What a beautiful picture that He's trying to get them to understand.

A. He's trying to help them understand what Jesus offers them. He says, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. I think we can recognize those statements are parallel. He is describing the answers to needs, spiritual needs, and He's offering them true satisfaction of those needs. If you will come to Me not for what I will give you, but for who I am, the bread of life, you will never hunger and thirst again after righteousness.

1. This is the same concept as with the woman at the well in chapter 4. John wants us to think about that concept again. When you come to Jesus, all that your soul, spirit and mind yearn for, require, need, look for, clamor for—will be completely satisfied. 2. He will fill what you truly need so that you won't look everywhere else in the world for it. Jesus says in verse 35, I am the bread of life. He doesn't say, I give the bread. He says, I am the bread. This is the first of seven “I am” statements in this gospel.

B. Jesus is your bread - Jesus is communicating; I am not the giver of bread to satisfy your whims, physical needs and desires, not your genie in the bottle for whatever you need. He has been sent by God from heaven. He parallels the manna. Just as God rained down manna in the wilderness in the days of Moses, now the father has sent His Son to be the bread of life. Those who truly believe and will come to Him understand who He is.

1. The implications of this “I am” statement are far reaching and we must come to Jesus with our eyes open recognizing Him. He is the place where thirst is quenched, and where hunger is filled. 2. We do not come to Him to satisfy all our desires. We've already seen that in the last lesson. It is not, I need this or that and I have these desires and there’s God; He can give me all the happiness and all the joy of life that I want. Fill up my wallet and give me good health and I'll serve you. 3. Think about this, when are you comfortable? When you're not hungry, and you're not thirsty. When you're hungry, or thirsty, you do something about it don’t you? Otherwise, you're uncomfortable. You address those needs, so you are no longer hungry or thirsty. 4. Jesus uses that picture. Until you come to Jesus as the bread of life, as the fountain of living water, you will never be satisfied. You'll always be in discomfort. Seeking something and looking in philosophy, astrology, fortune telling, other people and a myriad of places that never satisfy. You're not going to find what you're looking for because only He can satisfy. Nothing else in life can.

C. We could say we were built to find our satisfaction in God. That's how we were created. We were created to find our satisfaction in God and Satan uses this lack of satisfaction as an opportunity to lead us to try to find that satisfaction elsewhere. You will be happy and have a good life if you will just do this.

1. If you made a lot of money. If you only had more power, if you had a promotion, if you were married, if you had children, if you lived in a different place. All the things that we hear in our ears that we need and would satisfy us. The point is, there is nothing that compares to Jesus. He's the only thing that satisfies. 2. Let me make a silly illustration. Let’s say you feel hungry. Should you go out to the garage and try to eat a tire or go to the refrigerator and eat some food? Obviously, you eat the food. All right, if you want true satisfaction, you go to the only source, Christ. If you go anywhere else, it doesn't make any sense. It won't work. It won't satisfy.

D. That's what He wants them to see. They've come to Him on the physical plane looking for other things to satisfy them. He's telling us that we cannot live for the bread of this world. It's not true bread.

1. Look at Isaiah 55:1-3, “1. Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.” 2. Isaiah poses this in the form of a question. Why would we take these other avenues looking for satisfaction? Why go elsewhere when Christ is the one who satisfies? He is the one that offers the true bread of life for He is the true bread. Why would we labor for that which does not satisfy? It is an amazing concept; what Jesus wants them to understand is that nothing else is really bread but him. The world offers no satisfaction and any satisfaction they claim is a lie. That should be pretty life changing.

E. Deuteronomy 8:2-3, Moses explains about their hunger in the wilderness, “… the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 3. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

1. Sound familiar? It should. In Matthew 4:4 when Satan tried to use Jesus’ hunger as a weapon it says, “But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”” This highlights that there is more to human existence than simply fulfilling basic, material needs. It means we stop seeking peripheral things, no longer focus on the physical, the things that we see with our eyes or think that we need for our flesh. Solomon finally figured that out didn’t he. Ecclesiastes 12. 2. John 6:36 is staggering. “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.” How often does this happen! Jesus says, I'm standing right here in front of you and I'm willing to give you the very life that you need, yet you do not believe even though you've seen me. They see Jesus, but they don't really see Him for who He is. 3. That crowd has witnessed God at work. They've seen the divine revealer right there in their midst, but rather than having their faith aroused and seeking Him because of who He is, all that has been aroused is curiosity, their appetites, desires and political ambitions to make Him king over Judea. 4. There's a world of people who see Jesus that do not see Jesus. There is a world of people that have heard of Jesus, recognize Jesus, sit in pews every Sunday believing that they believe in Jesus, but they do not believe in Jesus because they do not see Him as the bread of life.

IV. Receiving Life – We continue with verses 37-40. “37. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.””

A. That’s a great finale. Here's what we look at today. At John 3:35 we were told – “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;…” Now Jesus says in 6:37; “. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” Then in verse 39 He says; “this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”

1. He's driving at a point here to His audience, a very important point. If you belong to the father, if you truly belong to God, then you will come to Jesus. Here you are in the audience of people who have come to Him simply seeking physical bread. 2. Conversely, since you won't come to Jesus, you don't belong to the father because the father has given all to Jesus. Refusing to come to Jesus proves you do not belong to the father. He gives them this warning: these Jews could not claim any allegiance or any life in God because they were not coming to Jesus as the bread of life.

B. We see a great hope given in verse 37, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” He goes on to emphasize this point in the next few verses.

1. The son isn't driving anybody away. Those who will come to Him as the bread of life and see Him for who He really is, He does not cast away. He has come to do the father’s will, and it is God’s will that He lose nothing of all that God has given Him but raise it up on the last day. 2. This has been, I submit to you, the primary message of this miracle. This miracle of the loaves and the fish is that Jesus is the bread of life and those who come to Him will not be lost. Remember John records this strange command when He tells His disciples to go gather all the fragments so none may be lost. 3. There is a great confidence for those who have come to Jesus, He will never cast them out. There will not be any concern, nor should anyone fret about their salvation if they understand what this is saying.

C. I think that leads to the final question; who has been given to Jesus? He is very clear, verse 37, All that the Father gives me… refers to all who shall be saved, none being excluded, so long as they truly come to Christ, that is the thrust of the second clause. Significantly, this verse makes no reference to faith like the previous verse; but this does not exclude faith, the verses are supplementary to each other. One must believe and come to Jesus to be saved. Coming to Jesus is equivalent to entering His kingdom; and entering requires one be born of water and of the spirit (John 3:5). Therefore, coming to Jesus means being born again. No subjective experience can be substituted for the new birth. "Coming" is something that one does, not something that he thinks, believes, or feels. D. Notice that verses 39 and 40 are parallel statements. For example, verse 39, And this is the will of him who sent me… Who sent Jesus? The father. Verse 40, For this is the will of my Father… Verse 39, …but raise it up on the last day. Verse 40, … I will raise him up on the last day

1. These two verses are in concert with one another and verse 40 explains verse 39. 2. What Jesus is describing for them, trying to get them to recognize is… who are truly in the kingdom, who truly belong to Jesus, who will endure to the end? Who are the ones that are going to hear the words of salvation? Who are the ones that will not be cast out? 3. The answer is; those who see Jesus as the bread of life, those who come to Him and do not look for their satisfaction in the world, do not labor for the food that perishes, but labor for the bread that leads to eternal life.

E. We notice this next phrasing in verse 40, …everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him… and that takes us back to John 3:14-15. “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” You must look to Him in faith. You must fully believe in Him.

1. We wonder, hadn't these people come to him? They've crossed the sea, they have traveled far to come to Jesus. Haven't they come to Him? Jesus' answer is no. John has expressed this before. 2. In chapter 3 Nicodemus has come to Jesus, but he hasn't come to Jesus. These people have come to Jesus, but they have not come to Jesus as the bread of life. They have not come to Him in faith. They do not see him as the way to eternal life. He's just Jesus. What will He do for me? That's what Nicodemus did, that is what the Samaritan woman asked. That's the response of the crowd.

CONCLUSION: As you go through this week, think about the implications of what it means for Jesus to be your bread. What should that look like in our lives if He is truly the bread that will give us eternal life?

What does that mean I will do? What does that change in how I think and how I live? If He is the one who gives all satisfaction, what does that change for me as I go about my day? How does that change my attitude, how I handle trials? How does that change how I deal with difficulties and distress? How does that change how I deal with the people of the world? How does that change my pursuits in life?

Will I pursue God above all else? Will I see life in His words? Jesus says, I'm that life. I'm the bread of life. Find your satisfaction in me.

All that has been offered in the physical realm does not satisfy. It does not give life. God has sent down His son as bread, bread that you can respond to. You can receive life if you will put your faith in Him, if you will look to Him, come to Him, receive Him, believe in Him and put your very life in His hands, believing that He is the son of God. Knowing therefore that He is your everything that nothing else in this life matters. The only thing that matters, the only thing that gives true joy is the pursuit of Jesus with all your heart.

That is the call that Jesus is making to the crowd. It's the call that He made to the Samaritan woman. If you knew who I was, you'd be asking me for that living water and I'd give it to you. It's the same call He gave to Nicodemus. You need to be born again. You need radical transformation. Jesus’ call is still ringing. We invite you to come while we stand and while we sing.

# ??? Reference: Brent Kercheville

A woman was taking her mother out for a drive and her mother scolded her every time she went over the speed limit. But it was HER car, and she was determined to drive as fast as she wanted to. Then she saw the flashing red and blue lights in the rearview mirror, and the policeman pulled her over and gave her a ticket. After the policeman left, she complained to her mother “That the policeman should have let me OFF WITH A WARNING.” But her mother smiled and said: “Joan - I gave you the warning. He gave you the ticket.”

Today, we’re beginning a series on the book of Revelation. Revelation is a massive book talking about the war between Good and Evil - between the forces of Satan, and the forces of Christ. And just in case you’ve never read the book… I’m gonna give the plot away – JESUS wins… Satan loses!

Now Revelation is also a book dedicated to assuring us that Jesus is coming back - and when He does, we who belong to Him, will live in a beautiful world where “(God) will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.” Revelation 21:4

WE LIKE THAT! WE WANT THAT! But we need to understand that Revelation is not just a book of comfort - it’s also a book of warning. In the first 3 chapters Jesus warns several churches about some of the bad choices they’ve made. And now - right here in the middle of Revelation – Revelation 16:15 you and I are being WARNED. Addressing Christians, Jesus declared: “Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”

How do I know that Jesus is addressing Christians? Well, because this is one of 4 times in the New Testament That talks about this. In Matthew 24:42-44: “Jesus tells His followers: “Stay awake, for you do not know on what day YOUR LORD IS COMING. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into.  Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

And in 2nd Peter 3:42-44 we Christians are told: “The day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought YOU to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise – we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace.”

ILLUS: I read the story of a Mother who caught her young son eating out of the sugar bowl. She told him: “Don’t you ever let me catch you doing that again.” And her boy innocently replied: “I’ll try Mommy. But you often quietly sneak up on me.” THAT LITTLE BOY HAD BEEN CAUGHT BY SURPRISE! And when Jesus comes back, He’s gonna catch a lot of people by surprise. Now, it’s true that NON-Christians will be caught by surprise when Jesus returns because they’re basically not looking for Him to come back anyway. But it’s the church goers - the people who SAY that they believe in Christ - who need to realize that Jesus will come back when they’re not looking for Him. And for some of these folks, that’s NOT GOING TO BE a pleasant experience.

Again, I refer to Revelation 16:15: “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” This verse calls believers to watchfulness, readiness, and faithful living in a world that is spiritually dark and morally chaotic. The blessing is not for the clever, the powerful, or the well-connected—but for the one who stays awake and keeps his garments.

Right in the middle of demonic deception, global conflict, and the gathering at Armageddon, Jesus breaks in with a personal warning: “Behold, I come as a thief.” This echoes His earlier warnings In 1st Thessalonians 5:2-3 we read: "2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape." AND Mark 13:33-36: 32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake.[a] For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants[b] in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows,[c] or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

A thief does not announce his arrival. A thief does not give a countdown. A thief comes when people are distracted, sleeping, or unprepared. Jesus is not calling us to fear His coming—He is calling us to be ready for it.

“Blessed Is He That Watcheth” To watch means      • Staying spiritually awake in a world that lulls people to sleep with comfort, entertainment, and compromise.      • Living with expectation, not lack of concern. Commentators note that this warning is given because the powers of evil are active and subtle. Watching is not passive—it is active, intentional, disciplined.

How Do We “Watch” Today?

A. Guard Your Heart Stay alert to the subtle drift of sin, compromise, and spiritual laziness. B. Stay in the Word Scripture keeps your garments clean and your eyes open. C. Pray with Expectation Prayer keeps your heart awake and your spirit aligned. D. Live as if Jesus Could Come Today Not in fear—but in readiness, joy, and purpose.

Revelation 16:15 is not a threat—it is an invitation. An invitation to:      • Wake up      • Clean up      • Look up      • Stand up      • Live up to your calling in Christ—Blessed is the one who watches. Blessed is the one who keeps his garments. Blessed is the one who is ready when the King appears.

I read the story of a little girl who’d heard in church about the Jesus’ return and she asked her mother: “Mommy, do you believe Jesus will come back?” “Yes dear.” “Could he come this week?” “Well, yes.” “Could He come today?” “Yes honey.” “Could he come in the next hour?” “Yes, He could that.” “In a few minutes?” About this time the mother kind of laughed: “Of course, dear.” The little girl paused and then said: “Mommy, would you comb my hair?”

Now notice, that little girl took Jesus coming back seriously. She was AWAKE to the truth that Jesus was gonna return, and she wanted to be ready for Him when He did. But she wasn’t afraid of Jesus coming back. She had a sweet gentle faith that EAGERLY anticipated Jesus’ coming. She literally had a child-like faith.

I find it intriguing that in Revelation 16:15: we are told that we should be keeping (our) garments on, that (we) may not go about naked and be seen exposed!" In other words, don’t get caught with your pants down! Now, what’s that all about? Why is Jesus talking about what we wear? Jesus is talking about the SPIRITUAL clothes we wear.

In Scripture, garments symbolize:      • Righteousness (Revelation 19:8)      • Character      • Faithfulness      • Identity in Christ To “keep your garments” means:      • Maintaining purity      • Walking in obedience      • Staying clothed in Christ’s righteousness, not your own

John Gill notes that to be found “naked” means to be exposed as one who lacked genuine righteousness or abandoned good works. In other words: Don’t let the world strip you of what Christ has clothed you with.

The Shame of Nakedness — A Warning to the Complacent “Lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” This is not about physical nakedness—it is spiritual exposure. It is the shame of:      • A wasted life      • A faith that was only outward This is the shame of being unprepared when Christ returns. So, what kind of SPIRITUAL garments should we be wearing?

Well, we should be wearing the Breastplate of FAITH and LOVE, and the helmet of the HOPE of our salvation. In other words – when people look at you and I - those are the messages they ought to see in our lives. When they look at us they should see our FAITH in Christ… and our LOVE for others. And they should be impressed by the fact that our HOPE of salvation isn’t based on our own personal righteousness… but on the blood of Jesus. In 1st Thessalonians 5:4-9 we’re told “You are not in darkness, brothers, for that day will surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober… Let us… put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.”

A preacher told about working in a machine shop for 4 1/2 years alongside a fellow named George. George’s job was to sweep and clean the shop. And he said George loved Jesus, and he loved singing hymns as he worked. Many of them had to do with the 2nd coming of Christ, such as “In the Sweet By and By” and “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder.” Well, late one Friday afternoon about 10 minutes to quitting time, the preacher said he looked at George and said, “George, are you ready?” And George said “Uh-huh.” But he was all dirty. He was just obviously not ready. And the preacher said, “Just look at you. You’re not ready to go home” And George said, “Yeah, I’m ready.”

I said “Look at you! Man, you’re not ready. You’ve gotta go clean up.” And George said, “let me show you something”… and he unzipped his coveralls and underneath the coveralls were the neatest, cleanest clothes you ever saw. HE WAS READY. All he had to do when the whistle blew was just unzip and step out of that coverall and walk over, and punch the clock… and he was gone. He said, “You see, I stay ready to keep from having to get ready – just like I’m ready for Jesus!”

Well, how do you get ready to go to heaven? What garments do you put on… so that, when the whistle blows and you punch that final time clock you’ll be ready go home to be with Jesus?

Well, you need to believe that Jesus is who He said He was. He’s the God in the flesh who became a man so that He could die for our sin. And you should repent of your past and determine not to live like that anymore. And you should confess Jesus as Lord and Master and turn your whole life over to Him. And then you get baptized into Christ. As Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

INVITATION:

·       Why do different people respond differently to the same message?

·         Why do some reject the Gospel of Christ and others accept it and live Christian lives?

• Some hearts break down like the carrot.
• Some hearts harden like the egg.
• But some hearts transform like the coffee bean—bearing fruit 30, 60, 100‑fold.

• The carrot that loses strength
• The egg that becomes hard
• Or the coffee bean that transforms the world around it

• Worries of life
• Deceitfulness of wealth
• Desires for other things

• Break up the hard ground — through repentance, honesty, and vulnerability before God.
• Remove the rocks — commit to deeper discipleship, not just emotional moments.
• Pull the thorns — simplify your life, reorder your priorities, and confront what is choking your soul.
• Stay open to the seed — keep listening, keep responding, keep obeying.

Failure is Part of Success Mark 14:27-31, 66-72

Famous People Who Became Successful After Numerous Failures.

Did you know that even the great inventor Thomas Edison had his fair share of blunders? It took him over 1,000 tries to invent the light bulb. When asked about his failures, he quipped, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” 

1. Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln endured multiple business failures, bankruptcy, and 26 political defeats before eventually becoming one of America’s most respected presidents.

2. J.K. Rowling

Before Harry Potter became a global phenomenon, Rowling was penniless, depressed, and rejected by 12 publishers. Her persistence turned her into one of the world’s most successful authors.

3. Oprah Winfrey

Oprah was fired from her first TV job and told she was “unfit for television.” She later built a media empire and became one of the most influential women in the world.

4. Thomas Edison

Edison famously failed thousands of times while trying to invent the light bulb. His philosophy: each failure was simply a step toward success.

5. Walt Disney

Disney was fired for “lacking creativity” and faced bankruptcy before creating one of the most iconic entertainment empires in history.

6. Michael Jordan

Cut from his high‑school basketball team, Jordan used failure as fuel to become one of the greatest athletes of all time.

7. Steve Jobs

Jobs was fired from Apple, the company he co‑founded. Years later, he returned and transformed it into one of the most valuable companies in the world.

8. James Dyson

Dyson created 5,127 failed prototypes over 15 years before finally producing the vacuum design that made him a billionaire.

What These Stories Teach Us

• Failure is not the opposite of success — it’s part of it.
• Persistence is the common thread across all great achievers.
• Rejection and setbacks often precede breakthroughs.
• Resilience, not perfection, defines long‑term success.

The Fail-tastic Proverb.

“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” 

Simon Peter was a leader among the twelve disciples. He was one of the first disciples Jesus called, and after Jesus ascended back into heaven, he was one of the leaders of the early church. However, I want you to imagine that night when Peter was sitting around the fire at the house of Caiaphas.

He was brave enough to follow the mob that arrested Jesus, but he was too afraid to identify himself as a companion of Jesus. While the illegal Jewish trial of Jesus was being conducted Peter was asked three times if he knew Jesus.

And three times, he denied Jesus. When we look at Peter’s life, we can see there were at least three steps on the downward path of failure. Simon says there are three steps that lead to failure. We need to know these steps, because they are the same steps to denial followers of Jesus take today.

A. His first downward step was disagreement with God’s Word. When Jesus took the disciples on a retreat to Caesarea Philippi, He asked them what people were saying. They said, “Some say you are John the Baptist, Jeremiah, Elijah, or one of the prophets.” Then Jesus said, “But who do YOU say that I am?”

There was probably silence for a moment or two when Peter said, “You are the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus complimented Peter on his good understanding.

Then Jesus began to tell them He would be going to Jerusalem where He would be put to death. That was God’s revelation. But Peter disagreed with God’s word.

The Bible says in Matthew 16:22-23 “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’ Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me.’” Peter heard God’s plan straight from the mouth of Jesus, but he thought he knew better. He said, “None of this business about dying!”

In the same way, we are headed for failure when we start disagreeing with this book. When a person no longer consults this book for personal morality, then that person is heading for a fall. So, I challenge each of us personally to read and obey God’s Word. There was a time when our national morality was based upon the morality of the Bible, but we have long since forsaken God’s Word as a source of right and wrong—and that’s one main reason we are in the mess we’re in.

B. Peter’s second step toward failure was overconfidence. When Jesus predicted that all the disciples would leave him, Peter bragged that he would stick with Jesus. He said, “EVEN If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!”

But Jesus said, “Peter, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

Peter said, “Never! Not me, Lord!”

The Bible has a strong warning against overconfidence in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Pride is a condition that blinds the person who has it. Pride is an attitude that causes you to think you are incapable of sin. But we need to understand that any of us are capable of denying the Lord at any time.

C. The third step on the pathway to failure was peer pressure from the wrong crowd. Peter sat and warmed himself at the fire with those who were hostile toward Jesus and anyone associated with Jesus. It’s hard to stand up and confess Jesus when you are with people who don’t share your beliefs.

We read in Mark 14:54 that Peter followed Jesus at a distance to the courtyard of Caiaphas’ house.

That’s an indication that we find ourselves in trouble when we don’t follow the Lord closely. Some of us may have at one time followed the Lord closely, but we have hung back and now we follow the Lord at a distance. And before long we find ourself hanging out with the wrong crowd. Soon we find ourself doing the wrong thing.

Falling away from the Lord doesn’t happen overnight. It happens gradually over a period of time.

I’ve always loved the words in the opening verse of psalms that talk about the characteristics of a righteous person.

It starts by revealing what a righteous person doesn’t do. Notice the progression.

Psalm 1:1, “Blessed is the one who does not WALK in step with the wicked or STAND in the way that sinners take or SIT in the company of mockers...”

Peter found himself walking with the wrong crowd. Then he stood with them, and then he sat down by the fire with them. If you find yourself walking with the wrong crowd, turn around. And for sure, don’t sit down with them. Peter took those three steps: 1) disagreement with God’s word, 2) overconfidence and

3) he submitted to peer pressure until he denied the Lord.

A little servant girl said, “I’ve seen you with Jesus; you’re one of His disciples!” Peter said, “I am NOT!” A second person said, “Yes you are, you are one of the disciples of Jesus.” The second time, Peter said, “You are wrong, I don’t know Jesus.” Then one of them recognized his accent. One man said, “I can tell by the way you talk, you’re from Galilee. You are with Jesus.” At that moment Peter lost it, AND a nearby rooster let out a cock-a-doodle do to end all cock-a-doodle do’s!

Then it crowed again, just to make sure Peter had heard it. Then Peter remembered the words of the Lord. The very thing Peter said would never happen had happened. Peter had denied his Lord. He was at rock bottom.

Maybe that’s where you’ve been before. Maybe it’s where you are now. Or you are afraid you may find yourself there soon. Rock bottom is a bad place to be, but it’s a good place to meet the Lord, because there’s only one direction you can go from there. If you are a human creature, you’re going to fail and make mistakes. When we have sinned, we must recognize it and repent. God’s forgiveness doesn’t save us from the consequences of our conduct, but if we’ve abandoned the behavior and are willing to accept the consequences, God will still use us.

The thing that reveals the strength of your character is what you do AFTER you fall. If you stay down, then you wallow in your failure. But if you get up and keep trying to follow God, He can still use you. We looked at the steps that lead to failure. Now let’s consider how to move toward restoration. Peter says there are three steps on the pathway to restoration.

A.    The first step is to admit your failure. As soon as the rooster crowed, Peter realized he had failed the Lord.

The Danish artist, Carl Bloch, captured a scene from the night when Peter denied Jesus.

Luke tells us as Jesus was being led out of the courtroom, he looked across the courtyard and looked into the eyes of Peter. Peter would see Jesus’ face was already beaten, his eyes swollen, and blood caked in his beard. That look must have made Peter’s blood freeze.

But I don’t think Jesus had a look of anger or disappointment toward Peter. I think it was a look of love. It was as if Jesus was saying, “I told you what would happen, now what are you going to do?”

In this moment you see the rooster crowing as Peter turns his head away from the gaze of Jesus. When it comes to failure and sin in your life, you have two options. You can try to hide it, or you can admit it. The Bible says in Proverbs 28:13, “Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”

Someone said, “To err is human; and to cover it up is too.” Once we have made a mistake one of the hardest things to do is to come clean and admit it. Is there an area of your life where you have failed the Lord, and you are in denial?

Remember these three phrases do deal with sin.

Admit it. Quit it, then Forget it.

Admit it: confess it to God.

Quit it: stop sinning; then forget it: accept God’s cleansing.

Admit it. Quit it, Forget it—it still works.

B. The second step is to repent of your sin. The Bible says Peter went out and wept bitterly. The word “repent” means to have a change of heart that leads to a change of behavior. When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, it is often a painful experience. That’s why Peter wept. He was ashamed of his behavior.

When was the last time you wept over your sins? Sorrow and repentance often go together.

The Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 7:10 “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

C. The third step is to return to serve with God’s people. Do you know the difference between Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter? Judas was sorry for what he did. He had regret, but there was no repentance. He went out and hung himself.

After Peter went out and wept, he repented and then he joined the disciples. Jesus not only predicted Peter would deny Him, but He also predicted Peter would get back on track and would be the one to strengthen the other disciples.

In Luke 22:31-32 Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Peter failed the Lord when he denied Jesus, but his faith didn’t fail. Jesus wasn’t finished with Peter.

In John 21 Peter and the disciples were out on the lake in Galilee fishing.

They had fished all night and caught nothing. They saw a man standing on the shore who called out, “Caught any fish?” They grumbled, “Nope.” The man said, “Throw your net on the other side of the boat.” That should have rung a bell. Sure enough they toss the net and it is so full of fish that they have to drag it to shore.

John said, “It’s the Lord!”

Peter, who had denied Jesus a few nights earlier couldn’t wait for the boat to get to shore. When the disciples arrived, Jesus already had a fire going with fish cooking. So once again, Peter is looking at Jesus across a fire. Jesus asks Peter a question three times.

Peter do you love me more than these? John 21:15-17, “15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” 16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?”

Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.””

And four weeks later, we see Peter filled with the Holy Spirit standing up and preaching the Gospel on the Day of Pentecost. He had failed… BUT, he used this event to strengthen his life. He went on to become one of the leaders of the early church.

CONCLUSION: John Maxwell wrote, “Failing doesn’t mean I’m a failure; it just means I have not yet succeeded.

It doesn’t mean I’ve accomplished nothing;

it just means I’ve learned something.

It doesn’t mean I’ll never make it;

it just means I have a reason to start over again.

It doesn’t mean God has abandoned me;

it just means He has a better idea!”

The Bible is full of stories of people who loved God and failed Him on a grand scale,

but they returned to God and God used them in a mighty way.

Remember, failure is NOT THE OPPOSITE OF SUCCESS

BUT is often the thing that LEADS TO SUCCESS!!!!

Sermon

Contributor : David Dykes

The Food That Perishes

John 6:16-29

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. We said at the beginning of this series that John’s focus was writing so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing you may have life in His name. We want to put effort in learning from John, for within this gospel is much information we can use when we teach others about the Lord.

Today we will continue our study with the second part of John’s lesson in chapter 6. Please keep in mind that this is one story John records for us. In the first 15 verses, we saw the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. These thousands now have been fed. 5,000 men, and who knows how many women and children.

This amazing miracle has taken place. Now let’s read John 6:16-21 – “16. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, 17. got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. 18. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. 19. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. 20. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” 21. Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.”

I wondered why this story is in this location, it seems out of place. This chapter is about the bread of life. Yet, right in the middle, we have this story about Jesus’ walking on the water. Why is this here? Why did John record it? On the surface it seems out of place, other than depicting it as what happened next.

We will note John’s account of this is extremely brief and leaves out key parts like Peter walking on the water and sinking. There is nothing about Jesus stilling the storm. But somehow this story of Jesus on the water is useful and part of the story about Jesus as the bread of life. We need to be wise students, understanding that God did not give just one narrative and John writes with purpose. Too many commentators say this is just stuck in here and it is out of place. We know better than that. Far greater things are being developed.

Thinking back on what we have learned so far, remember that our story is colored by the Passover - exodus sequence. We noted the parallels to the Passover and exodus in the first three verses of this chapter. We noticed how the exodus scene is very much imaged, with Jesus crossing the sea, going to the other side, going up on the mountain, and then feeding the people in the wilderness—just like the exodus.

We've said before as we study John's Gospel that John is showing us that Jesus is the Son of God, so that all may believe, because Jesus does what God has already accomplished before. He's mirroring God.

The sea does play a major role in the exodus account. God rescues Israel at the Red Sea and shows His power and deliverance in that miracle. The psalmist, in recording the exodus scene at the Red Sea in Psalm 77:19, writes these words of God’s deliverance: “Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseen.” The deliverance from Egypt and parting of the Red Sea is pictured as God walking through the sea and the great waters. This is how the Jewish people, the Israelites, understood the exodus scene. Jesus walking on the water would have brought that to mind.

It was a concept of God leading the people, and the idea that He passed through the waters. God walked through the sea as He led them into the promised land. There is a connection to what's happening here. It is again looking to the exodus, a connection to show that it is a time of deliverance. Jesus has come, and He has come to save. He is going to deliver His people. As we look at the story now, we can see how that is played out.

I. Jesus Has Come To Save – We start with verses 16-17, “When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.” You will remember the crowds intended to make Him king. Jesus withdraws and goes up on the mountain. He has not returned and the disciples leave in a boat. They are going back across the sea to Capernaum.

A. Verses 18-19, “The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened.” Here is the picture. It is late, and it says they've rowed three or four miles. They're about halfway across. They are in the middle of the sea and now the wind comes up, and the sea becomes rough. Then they see Jesus’ walking on this turbulent sea, and they are afraid.

B. Verses 20-21, “But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” The story here focuses on the disciples. It doesn't focus on Peter walking on the water or Jesus stilling the winds and sea. Not the point of the story. The point of the story is in verse 21. When they knew who Jesus was, they received Him into the boat.

C. That's the whole story. Once they knew who this person was who was walking on the sea, their response was… they gladly received Him into the boat. That's what John wants us to focus on. Then notice in verse 21 something that none of the other gospel accounts tell us. Immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

D. John says in these verses, they're in the middle of the lake, and now suddenly they've come to their destination. I believe this connects with what Jesus is trying to teach. In verse 12 after the 5,000 are fed, Jesus gave this command only recorded in John's gospel. “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” This is the thread being carried here in this chapter.

E. Jesus has come to save so that none may be lost, and He may bring them to their final destination.

1. He has come to save, He has come to deliver. John leaves out the walking on water by Peter because he's not concerned about how Jesus stills the sea and quiets the wind. He just wants you to focus on two things. When the disciples knew it was Jesus, they welcomed Him into the boat, and as soon as He was in, they got to port.

2. I find this a fascinating sequence in the way John records it. He presents this to us so we can contrast this with what's about to happen in the rest of the story. Those who are true followers of Jesus, those who have true faith, when they see Jesus, they welcome Him. By doing so, they are delivered and brought to their final destination.

3. The rest of the story is going to show how most people don't do that. It's a contrast between those who are truly disciples and those who seem to be disciples. They claim they are followers, but they're not really followers. Watch what happens now at verse 22, and you'll see why John has shown this and how it connects together.

II. Love The Savior – The crowd is still on the East side of the sea where Jesus fed the 5000. John 6:22-25 - “On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?””

A. When they found Him, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?”

1. Think about this scene. No doubt they know Jesus did not get in the boat and go with the disciples. The disciples have left on their own. They probably saw Jesus go up on the mountain and they watched the disciples leave.

2. They get in boats and go to Capernaum and somehow Jesus is there, and they are certain He didn't take a boat! They also know He couldn't have walked all the way around the sea. So, they asked that question, when did you get here?

B. Listen to how Jesus responds to this mass of people following Him in verse 26. “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” He clearly identifies a problem, and it is a problem that John has observed for us many times in this gospel. Jesus knows the hearts of the people, and there are those not following Him for the right reason. Those people did not see Jesus as God-with-us. They did not see Jesus as the light coming into the darkness. Rather, they are following Him because they want to be fed.

1. Here is the sign, but you do not understand it. Instead, you saw the sign, and you said, Wow, that was great, we got a free lunch. We know they saw the sign of feeding of the 5,000. But He's saying, you don't really see the sign. Yeah, you see the outcome, but you aren't getting the connection.

2. You don't grasp what this means. You don't understand who I am. You're into it simply because you can get something out of it.

3. They say we're going to follow you. Jesus is saying, truly, you aren't following Me. You are not true disciples. Their enthusiasm is not for who Jesus is. Their enthusiasm is for what He gives. Jesus is identifying them by saying, you're not coming to Me because you understand who I am. They do not understand Him to be the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord, the Savior, the Deliverer, the prophesied one who was going to save the people from their sins.

C. Jesus does not accept that. Jesus does not accept people coming to Him for what they are going to receive. We need to consider that there is a great difference. A great difference between wanting Jesus and wanting what materialistic things Jesus gives.

1. Let me illustrate. Do you want your spouse to love you because of who you are, the person that you are, or because of all the things that you do for them? There is a big difference.

2. How about your children. Do you want your children to love you for who you are, or do you want your children to love you because of all the things you do for them? There is a big difference isn’t there? This is what Jesus is pointing out to this crowd. You're coming to me for what I can give you.

3. If we are in a relationship with God, with our spouse, for what we receive… that is, by definition, selfishness. If I am married for the only reason of what I get out of it, then it is selfishness. If I am obedient to my parents only for what they will do for me, then it is selfishness. If I only serve God because of the perceived physical benefits, then I serve out of selfishness. What someone gives—cannot be the object of our affection.

4. I submit to you this is an enormous truth, and it explains massive failures in marriage. So many marriages fall apart because the commitment is not to the person. The commitment is to what they will receive from the person. When they stop receiving from that person what they expect, they give up. True love is in the person, not in what that person does for you.

D. Jesus identifies this problem to them to get them to understand. Will you love me for Me or will you love Me only for the gifts that I give? Is that the only reason you are going to follow me? Is that the only reason you are going to seek after Me? This is, I think, such an important truth today because so much so-called Christianity has been built on the idea that Jesus is here for all your whims. He is here to fulfill all your needs.

1. Jesus came to change your focus from physical desires to spiritual desires so you would seek after Him properly. Changing the selfish seeking of physical comfort and desires to godly desires. We cannot turn God into “what will He do for me?” Yet, we know that's the primary motive of many who claim to be “followers of God” these days.

2. What is God going to do for me? What is my benefit? What is God going to accomplish for me? What program is there for me? That's selfishness. That's not what God seeks. I submit to you that Jesus will give you nothing if that's the only reason you seek him.

3. Look at what happens here. Does Jesus perform another miracle and give them the bread that they are looking for? No. You're not coming to Him for the right reason... If you are coming to him for the selfish purpose of fulfilling your physical desires, Jesus does not respond to that. We need to love Him for who He is.

E. This chapter is all about the concept of seeing who Jesus is and loving Him for who He is. Not just what He will give us. I wish people would hear this truth! It seems so often it is all about our self-interest. What will Jesus do for me, what will Jesus give to me? He will give you nothing if you are seeking Him for what He gives. Do not love Him for His material gifts. Love Him for He is our loving Savior and Lord.

1. If this truth were to sink into people’s hearts, then it would end any notion of asking; if we have to assemble at all services: if we have to worship: if we have to serve: if we have to give, and so forth. Those questions represent a heart that is not in love with who Jesus is, but merely in love with what Jesus gives.

2. You all have heard these things. -- Why should I have to do anything? Why do I have to get baptized? Do I really have to do good to my neighbor? Do I really have to serve somebody? Do I have to attend worship services instead of just praying at home? What do those questions suggest about a person’s personal relationship with God?

3. We are not the focal point, He is the focal point, and that's what leads into what Jesus says in verse 27.

III. Labor For Lasting Food – “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Do not work for the food that perishes. That makes me stop and ask an obvious question.

A. What are we working for? What is our purpose? Why are we here? What is our quest? What are we doing? What are you laboring for? What is all your effort geared after? What are you doing here on this earth? That's a very important question and it is very important to answer this honestly. What are we doing here?

1. Jesus is calling for us to stop focusing on the physical. Stop focusing on the material. That is… stop focusing on the things of this world. To truly receive Jesus, to truly be a follower of Him we need to move away from trying to fulfill physical and material wants. Don't labor for the food that perishes He says. That labor is not going to give you the joy that God is looking to give you.

2. Isaiah prophesied of that in Isaiah 55:2 when he asked the question, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.”[NASB] When we see who Jesus is and we understand why we are following Him, and we don't follow out of selfishness, then that is going to change everything about how we live our lives.

3. We are no longer going to be driven by occupation, wealth, comfort, lust, position, power, or success. We're not going to be driven by any of those things because we'll recognize that that is food that perishes.

4. Why would we labor for those things? Why would we put so much effort into getting those things when they do not give us the joy that we think they're going to give us? Do not labor for the food that perishes. Why put effort into these things that are not of value to your soul?

B. Verse 27 continues; but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. There's only one food, only one thing that will satisfy eternally and that is Jesus. Jesus is the only one that satisfies. Jesus is the only one who gives true bread. It cannot be found anywhere else.

C. For on him God the Father has set his seal. The Father has authenticated and declared this is where true life is. John 5:26, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” [ESV] He has given authority to the Son to give life to whomever He wills. True life, true joy, true satisfaction is only found in Christ.

D. This causes those people to ask the really important question in verse 28. “Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?””

1. All right. Don't labor for the food that perishes, labor for the eternal food, so what work must we do to be able to do that? What work must I do to have this eternal life? I think the NIV words this very well, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

2. Important question. Since we're not supposed to labor for the food that perishes, the physical things, the material things, what must we do?

E. Notice the answer that He gives here in verse 29. “Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”” That's quite an answer. You will note that He doesn't give them a long list. I want you to notice how He words that.

1. They said, what's the work that we need to do to do the works of God? Jesus replies, “This is the work of God…” God's already accomplished this. God has already done the work. There's no amount of work that you're going to accomplish to be able to say… now I have eternal life because I've done A, B, C, D, X, Y, and Z. See, He's working with this Jewish mind set of, what must we do?

2. No, you don't understand. You don't understand that God has already accomplished a mighty work through His Son. He has accomplished the work. I love how the Apostle Paul words that in Colossians chapter 2 when he speaks of the circumcision not made with hands and how you're buried with Him in baptism through faith in the powerful working of God. It's God's work. God's done the work. We haven't done the work. God has accomplished the work.

F. What then is expected of His people? What is He looking for in these people? The rest of verse 29. “… that you believe in him whom he has sent.” What have we learned about believing? We might put it this way; “This is the work of God: that you believe [i.e. adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One whom He has sent.””

1. He's getting at seeing Jesus for who He is. To recognize that this is the Savior, and let that change who you are. All that I do is for nothing if it doesn't come from the knowledge, and love, that Jesus is precious and that He is all I need. That must be the basis.

2. He is the Savior, He is the treasure, and now I labor for Him and not for the food that perishes. I do so because God has accomplished an amazing act of mercy and grace through the sacrifice of His Son. Therefore, I will labor for Him, I will give my life to Him, and I will not work for the things of this world. I will work for that which truly satisfies.

CONCLUSION:

We see how this thread all came together and why the walking on the water scene was important to John defining the need to receive Jesus. The disciples on the Sea of Galilee saw Jesus as the Savior and received Him into their boat and they arrived at their destination. The crowds saw Jesus as a means to fulfill their physical desires and therefore did not have true saving faith in Him.

There's a distinction being made between His disciples and the crowd that seems to be following but they're not really disciples. Think about how that relates throughout the book. In John 1:12 we learned that believing in Jesus is to receive Him into your life. We learned that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). In the context of chapter 3 Jesus is describing being born again. We learned we must have a spiritual birth, being born from above, to have eternal life. Only when we see Jesus for who He is, will we truly receive Him into our lives. By receiving Him into our lives we experience the new birth that leads to eternal life from the Son.

A very important concept that John has been driving at. It is not just simply, I believe. He becomes everything to your life. You follow Him and nothing else. He is the treasure and nothing else. Go back to chapter 1 and read these sorrowful lines and see how John has been working with this.

John 1:5 says, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehended it.” Notice it again a few verses later.

John 1:10. “He was in the world and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.”

This has been the theme of this Gospel. Will you see that He is the light and will you receive Him for who He is? Or will you just simply look at Him as somebody who does some neat things, who satisfies my desires, who makes my life a little better, and so therefore I use Him that way. Jesus wants people who will follow Him for who He is.

The object of our affection is not the gifts. It is the giver of the gifts. We love Him and serve Him for Him. May we develop that strong faith, and may we work to have that kind of love to see Him as He truly is and love Him for who He really is.

The message is yours. If you are in need of baptism or prayers we invite you to come while we stand and sing the invitation song.

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Reference: Brent Kercheville

A person once said that there are only two things that you need to worry about:

Whether you are healthy, or whether you are sick!

If you are healthy, you have nothing to worry about BUT if you are sick you have two things to worry about:

Whether you are going to get better, or

whether you are going to get worse!

If you get better, you have nothing to worry about BUT if you get worse you have two things to worry about:

Whether you’re going to live, or

whether you're going to die.

If you live then you have nothing to worry about, BUT if you die then you have two things to worry about:

Whether you're going to heaven, or

whether you're going to hell.

If you're going to heaven, you have nothing to worry about, BUT if you're going to hell, you have two things:

WHETHER IN Utter darkness or IN THE MIDST OF THE FIRE!

This morning, we will be addressing the idea of fighting against the flames. I would like to look at an event that we are all familiar with that happened many years ago. Our text this morning will be from the 3rd chapter of Daniel.

Daniel 3 beginning in Verse

1 Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its width six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.

2 And King Nebuchadnezzar sent word to gather together the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image

which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

3 So the satraps, the administrators, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the provinces gathered together for the dedication of the image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

This is a little bold, isn’t it? What purpose is this going to have? Look at the size of it. It’s made to brag…. TO SHOWOFF.

He invites all these people to come see it. The king doesn’t want anyone to miss this monument that is being set up for him.

We think about our own lives.

I’m sure we come in contact with people today that view themselves a little more important than others. More importantly, they view their own actions as important. Anytime they say to you, “I can do whatever, I want.”

What are they saying about God in their lives? They’re viewing themselves more important than anyone else—including God, our creator.

In verse 4 Then a herald cried aloud: “To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages,

5 that at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, you shall fall down and worship the gold image

that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up;

6 and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.”

When you hear these instruments playing, you need to fall down and worship the golden image.

Notice how PERSONALLY the King gets involved in this. He goes to all the trouble of having a HUGE idol built where everybody can see it. That’s pretty plain. Not only is the image there, you are to be in awe: O, Nebuchadnezzar, how powerful you are! There are examples of false gods, but this king, Nebuchadnezzar, himself has made this image that he wants people to worship.

We think about people in our lives today who may value their car more than anything. They value their jobs more than anything. It would really be the same thing as this golden image. If we let something stand in our lives that is more important than our worship to God, if it is more important than what we realize what God deserves.

Then he sets aside a special day when everybody is to come and bow down to that idol. And then he makes a major musical production to announce when everyone should bow down. This musical extravaganza was all about glorifying an idol.

Apparently Nebuchadnezzar isn’t sure that his command will be obeyed. He’s not sure everybody is going to bow down to his idol, so he makes absolutely sure that everybody

knows that if they DON’T bow down to this idol...

there’s a price to be paid. You see, this isn’t just about an idol. This is about a King and his desire to force his VALUE SYSTEM on his people.

at verse 7: So at that time, when all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, harp, and lyre, in symphony with all kinds of music, all the people, nations, and languages

fell down and worshiped the gold image which King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. He’s IMPOSING his pagan lifestyle on an entire people.

And he’s doing it because he can. He’s rich and powerful and he can definitely hurt you if you oppose him. It’s kind of like the powerful people of our day who say – You WILL accept homosexuality. You WILL accept foul language in everyday conversation. You WILL accept public shaming, sarcasm, and acts of revenge. You WILL accept all kinds of immorality.

Because if you don’t except these things then... there will be a price to be paid. You’ll do it or it’ll cost you your job or maybe your business or maybe your income.

The rich and powerful in our society tell us that if we don’t bow down to THEIR altar... they WILL DESTROY YOU.

And so everybody bows down. It’s not worth the hassle and they don’t want to pay that kind of price for saying “NO”. Everybody bows down. Everybody, that is, except 3 YOUNG MEN from Judah – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. REMEMBER WHAT Isaiah 5:20 SAYS: They call evil good, and good evil!

Now, I’m going to drop down to verse 12 of our text in Daniel 3 There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up.”

Hum? Tattletales! People saying, “Do you know what they’re doing over there? There are people that don’t worship.” So Obviously…. there are some people blabbing to the king. Basically, they’re saying, “Do you know that there are people who don’t follow your god.”

Notice Nebuchadnezzar’s reaction in verse 13. Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. So, they brought these men before the king.

If you’re Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and you’re brought before the king you might be thinking “Uh oh!”

He is the king.

So, I am sure we would immediately start thinking about REASONS WHY WE DIDN’T OBEY THE KING’s DECREE LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!

We didn’t because…

You’d be thinking of all different kinds of reasons why you didn’t do it.

Things like -

We didn’t because we didn’t hear the sound.

Or, we didn’t know the decree APPLIED TO US ALSO.

We think about people today.

They give every reason why they do what they do. In verse 14 Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them,

“Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up?

SO HERE YOU ARE in front of the king.

You’re asked a straight forward question.

Is it true that you chose to ignore my decree?

What would your response be?

Today we may be asked

just a simple question by our own friends—are you a Christian?

Or, do you think that you really need to attend services?

Or, just any type of question like this?

The king is asking: Did you ignore my decree? In verse 15, Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship

the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.

And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”

Notice again the question King Nebuchadnezzar asked Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego – at the end of verse 15.

This question and how Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answer that question is the focus of the entire story. “Who is the God who will deliver you?” And how did they answer the question?

Their SO IMPORTANT ANSWER to the KING is found in Verse 17 “OUR GOD whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king” (PAUSE) Do you believe that?

Do you believe that your God is mighty to save?

Do you believe that your God is able to deliver you?

When the king threatens them, their response is one of the most powerful declarations in Scripture:

“Our God is able to deliver us… But even if He does not, we will not bow.”

This is mature faith:

• Faith that trusts God’s power
• Faith that submits to God’s will
• Faith that refuses to compromise

The reason why so many church goers struggle in their faith is because ... they don’t. They don’t believe in a God who will have their back. They don’t believe in a God who cares. They don’t believe in a God who is able TO DO ANYTHING, so when trials and struggles come along they can’t stand up.

All they can do is kneel in submission. If you don’t believe God can do things in your life... you can’t win. You have already lost. And Satan has already won.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were saying in vs 18 “We may not win... but we WILL NOT lose. Our God IS able to deliver us.

And then they said: “BUT IF NOT (if God decides that He isn’t going to save us today) be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” Even if God decides not to rescue us from our fiery furnace we will not bow down. We will NOT surrender. We will NOT dishonor our God no matter what the price. Our God is mighty to save. Our God is able to deliver us.

And when God steps up to defend us, there’s no power on the face of the earth that can withstand Him.

Romans 8:39 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I can visualize Nebuchadnezzar sitting in his throne smugly watching as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are thrown in the fiery furnace. I can see him smile as he believes he has won. He was so angry with them for choosing to obey THEIR GOD instead of him he had the furnace increased to seven times its normal heat BUT then he glances through an opening in the furnace and ... he begins to rise from his seat. A look of shock crosses his face as he asks if they’d only thrown 3 men into the fire.

Someone says “yes, only 3.” But as he looks into the furnace and he sees FOUR MEN. Where’d the 4th guy come from?

The king heats the furnace seven times hotter — because the world always increases pressure when you refuse to bow.

But notice what happens:

1. They are thrown in bound… but the fire sets them free. The ropes burn off, but their bodies are untouched.

Sometimes God uses the fire to burn away what was holding you.

2. A fourth man appears in the fire.

Nebuchadnezzar sees someone “like a son of GOD.”

God doesn’t just rescue from the fire — He joins His people in it.

You may feel like you’re in a furnace right now:

• A furnace of stress
• A furnace of grief
• A furnace of pressure
• A furnace of uncertainty

But the God of Daniel 3 still steps into furnaces.

We read in verse 25 of the text “He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth

is like the Son of God.”

The Bible tell us, when we’re faced with our own fiery trial, God will be there beside us.

Here in THIS BIBLICAL ACCOUNT is a king basically saying, who is that God that shall deliver you?

He was putting fear into them. There’s no way that your God is going to deliver you from what I can do to you!!!

Isn’t it ironic that the TITANIC which had the statement made about it that even God Himself couldn’t sink it? This ship never made it to its destination on its maiden voyage. Hum? A little irony there.

In verse 16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

We are going to do what God wants us to do.

How would you answer the question

who is your God that is going to help you?

Do they know the final ending?

Do they know that there will be no harm to them? No.

Do they know that the king is going to be upset? Yes.

Do they know that there’s a decree saying they will be thrown into a fiery furnace? Yes.

I can only IMAGINE what the heat would be like IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRE.

This was a “God moment” – this was a time when I believe God was setting them up. He was putting these guys in a position where they had to make a choice.

And God does that a lot in Scripture.

I hope you noticed that they come out without even the smell of smoke.

God doesn’t just deliver — He restores.

Some people go through fire and carry the scars forever. These men walked out without the smell of what they survived.

God can bring you through something so completely that people won’t believe you ever went through it.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were faced with a harsh decision, a time when God

had set them up to endure for righteousness.

Deuteronomy 31:8 tells us of a promise that God makes repeatedly throughout the Bible

“It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed."

This is a promise you can rely on. But this promise is only yours if you are His child. If you’ve sensed the need for a God who will stand there beside you.

God’s offer is simple to accept:

Believe in Jesus, repent of your sins, confess Jesus as your Lord and Master and then be buried with Christ in the waters of Christian baptism In the name of the FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT for the REMISSION of your SINS.

INVITATION

The All-Providing King

John 6:1-15

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. We completed our study of chapter 5 last time and as we return to John's Gospel, I want to spend a few minutes reminding ourselves of some of the important concepts that John has set forward in this Gospel.

First, we need to remember the purpose John stated for writing. It is always important as we study the Gospels to keep in mind the inspired author's purpose. There's a reason behind these things. It's not just simply four narratives, but it is an argument based on the author concerning Jesus. John said that he wrote “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” Now we are going to go on to the 6th chapter where John records for us the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.

Second, we have observed in this Gospel, that John is showing us that Jesus does what God has already done. Remember the parallel between how the Bible begins, the first book, Genesis, in the beginning God, and then we have John's Gospel in the beginning the Word. Right at the start John tells us the Word is God. Then he continues in the following chapters showing us Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, by observing how Jesus is accomplishing and doing what God has already done.

Third, keep in mind that in this Gospel John has been talking about signs. His Gospel is unique in how John emphasizes the necessity of signs. He only records seven miracles and he calls those miracles signs, which means that we are not supposed to step back and just say, wow, that was a neat miracle. The miracle is to communicate something deeper. There is a deeper message, a deeper concept than just simply, He did a miracle and that makes Him God.

There is something intrinsic in the miracle that causes it to be a sign. It is a symbol, it is a communicating device to the reader, so that you will know that Jesus is the Christ, not only by His power, but also in what He does.

Please keep those things in mind as we study this 6th chapter. This chapter is one solid story, but to do 71 verses in one lesson is just not going to happen. We need to break it into pieces. First, there is the fourth great sign (John 6:1-14); then the people's efforts to make him King (John 6:15); the fifth of the seven signs (John 6:16-21); next the discussions on the other side of the lake and the extended metaphor of the bread of life (John 6:22-51); then the "hard saying" regarding the eating of His flesh, etc. (John 6:52-59); and the downward turn in the Lord's popularity (John 6:60-71).

As we go through this chapter, please keep in your mind that this is one story, one event that John has put together concerning who Jesus is.

Before we introduce this chapter, let's read the first 15 verses, get a feel of what John is recording for us, and then we'll break it down into the pieces that John wants us to understand.

John 6:1-15 – “After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.”

“When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”

“Now there was a great deal of grass in the place, so they sat down, about five thousand in all.” Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

“So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.”[ESV]

I. Overview – Let’s first have an overview of what is going on. We want to make some observations before we get into the details of what John is teaching us.

A. The first thing I think worthy of observation is that this is the only miracle recorded in all four Gospels. The synoptics record this sign as the culmination of a series of wonders, but John seems to have presented it for the sake of the discussions that flowed out of it; and it also fitted his objective of stressing Jesus' deity.

1. Since this is the only miracle that gets treatment by all four, what makes John’s viewpoint distinct? What is different about this recording of the miracle than the synoptic Gospels? I believe we do a great disservice when we take the Gospel accounts and try to harmonize them, to blend them together and make them one. If God wanted one singular narrative, He certainly could have given us one singular narrative.

2. There is a reason that John's Gospel has some different details, that are not found in the other Gospels. As I read I often wonder, why did John say that here? How come this is different than Matthew, Mark and Luke's Gospels? What is John trying to get us to understand?

B. The second thing that we need to see is this is filled with Exodus overtones. Notice all the Exodus imagery that is found here. For example, John goes out of his way in verse 4 to point out it's the Passover that's coming. The Passover was given to Moses and the people of Israel when they were slaves in Egypt, and it was observed the night before the Exodus. The great Passover when God struck down the firstborn who did not have the mark on the doors. The Passover is memorial about the Exodus and how God had led the people by a mighty hand from their slavery.

1. We also notice the picture how Jesus crosses the sea and goes up the mountain. Which is exactly what Moses does in the Exodus as he crosses the Red Sea and then goes up to Mount Sinai. John records this but none of the other Gospels do.

2. John also tells us that there's a great multitude following Him as He goes. Which is what Moses did. Moses led the mighty number of Israel as he takes them across the Red Sea to Mount Sinai and into the wilderness.

C. The wilderness is the third parallel. Jesus goes to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee (Tiberias). That is the side of the sea that is known for its barren hillside. The other Gospel accounts just say it's a desolate place.

1. This is observable geographically and doesn't have to be stated by John. We know that's not like the west side where there's Capernaum and there's all those cities and towns.

2. This is a desolate area as is made clear by Jesus’ question to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread…” The point is they are in the middle of nowhere and there is no place near to buy food. It's a desolate place. Just as when Moses leads the people into the wilderness.

D. The Exodus symbolism continues with Jesus’ question. None of the other Gospel accounts tell us that Jesus asks the question, “Where are we to buy bread…”. It is always the question of the disciples. This is a strong parallel to what Moses asks in Numbers 11:13 – “Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?...”

1. We can see what John is showing us here, feel the weight of Passover, of Sinai and wilderness as we read this chapter. It's only going to get stronger as we read and I suggest you read the whole chapter and see for yourself though we will not get past verse John 6:15 today.

2. John is setting this up for us in the very beginning with Jesus crossing the sea, going up on the mountain. The crowds follow. They're in a desolate place. Jesus is acting just like Moses not only in His actions, but also in His words. We'll see the people draw that conclusion in verse 14. This is the one. This is the prophet like Moses that Moses said the Lord would raise up. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19).

E. One other thing I note here is the story also gives a warning for future trouble. Notice verse 2, “A large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.” The crowds were following Him because of the signs. We have observed that this has been a problem many times in the Gospel of John. The issue was first highlighted for us in John 2:23-25. “Many believed when they saw the signs he was doing but Jesus did not believe in or entrust himself to them because he knew what was in their hearts.” They believe because they see the signs. But there is not an inward faith that comes from seeing the signs.

1. Jesus condemned the people for this specifically in John 4:48, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” John has shown us the false, non-saving belief of Nicodemus in chapter 3 and the true, saving faith of the Samaritan woman in chapter 4. Now John is foreshadowing this same issue. He sets us the scene with the crowds coming for the wrong reason. Jesus must deal with the problem that their belief is shallow. It is not true saving faith.

2. They just simply are coming because of external events. Now let's get into the story and look at some of the things that are going on. In verse 5 we see Jesus asking the question.

II. The Test – John 6:5 Jesus asks Phillip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” John tells us the number of men were about 5,000 and Matthew says about 5,000 besides women and children. Feel the enormity of the situation! That is a lot of people and there is no place nearby to get supplies. Visualize thousands of people streaming toward Jesus and His disciples. That is a huge number of people. Can you picture the faces of the disciples when Jesus asks that question? You've got to be kidding me! Look at all these people.

A. Now we consider what Jesus is doing as verse 6 continues, “He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.” Jesus is asking a question to see what the response of His disciples is going to be. This is a testing of faith; would they turn to Jesus and declare that He can resolve this situation. “You are the Son of God and you can do all things”.

1. Recall what Ezekiel said when God asked him something seemingly impossible, “can these bones live?” Ezekiel responds, “O Lord God, you know.”

2. Rather than looking to Jesus for the answer and trusting Him to provide, the disciples look to self-reliance. We don’t have enough money to fix the problem. We don’t have enough food to solve the situation.

3. Consider what Jesus is doing here. I suspect Jesus is not asking His disciples to solve this problem. He's not asking His disciples to look to themselves and come up with some kind of answer. He's looking for them to see Jesus as the answer. He wants them to turn to Him and say, we don't have an answer, but You can solve the problem. You are able to deal with the situation. You are the all-providing King, You can do something. — This is the test.

B. There is something important for us to recognize, we need to see our insufficiency. It's ultimately why we are tested isn’t it? It really doesn't matter what we're going through. It doesn't matter if it is the severest of severe trials. It doesn't matter if it's a minor ordeal. Ultimately, everything boils down to recognizing in the trial we are completely insufficient. We do not possess all the answers. We do not know how things are going to turn out. We cannot change the circumstances the way we would like in any event.

1. I need to recognize that I am insufficient but there is One who is all-sufficient. I am not to first turn to myself and say, well, let me see how I can solve my problem. Then if I can't solve my problem, shrug my shoulders and say, well, maybe God can do something.

2. Sad but true many of us, myself well included, turn to our own insufficiency first instead of God first. The disciples say they do not have enough money to buy the amount of food needed even if there was a place to get it from. As far as the food on hand they say; “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?”

C. The scene continues in verse 10, and we see something interesting; “Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”” Then John writes, “Now there was much grass in the place…” I read that and wondered. Matthew, Mark and Luke call this a desolate place, yet several of the gospels mention the grass where the people could sit. I think there is something that is being declared here in this highly symbolic gospel. It's desolate. But where Jesus is, there's green grass. Interesting.

1. Jesus has the people sit down. With the five small loaves and two small fish available, Jesus takes the loaves and fish, gives thanks to the Father, and then distributed the bread and fish. With 5000 men and an unknown number of women and children, the disciples begin to hand out the food. The disciples keep passing out the food until the crowd had eaten “as much as they wanted.”

2. This is not a snack. This is dinner for the crowd. The crowd eats until they are satisfied. He takes the loaves and gives thanks and distributes them to those who were seated. I try to imagine a grassy hillside with 5,000 men plus women and children all seated around and the disciples distributing the fish and loaves. How long does it take to feed a few thousand people? Visualize what's going on here. This must have taken quite some time, and it says they have as much as they wanted.

D. Then notice the emphasis is made in verse 12. “And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.”” They ate until they were full! Jesus supplied an abundance of food. It's a great picture because it tells us that only Jesus can satisfy. There's a great image as the disciples see Jesus is the one who is sufficient. They are not sufficient for the problem in front of them. But here is the all-sufficient King who truly satisfies.

1. Everyone eats all that they want. They are completely satisfied. They are completely filled. It is a beautiful picture. It teaches us everything else is emptiness.

2. That void in your life you feel, that emptiness you have, only God fills. Here is that picture being done in the symbol. He is trying to communicate it to them in this imagery that He has come, and He brings satisfaction to the hungry and thirsty no one else can satisfy. Only Jesus can provide. Only Jesus is sufficient. Only Jesus can satisfy.

III. Nothing Lost - In verse 12 after they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. This command is not recorded in the other accounts. There is a symbolism that exists here, and I want to stress I do not think the point is “even in abundance don't be wasteful”. Not the point at all. I want you to recognize the imagery that's being given to us.

A. That nothing may be lost. The bread that Jesus has offered to the people. He has come for the people so that no one will be lost. There is a deep meaning behind what has happened. He is accomplishing something here.

1. Look at verse 13, “So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.” Jesus has come so that life would be given and none would be lost. You ever wondered why Jesus made sure it was 12 baskets that were filled and not 4 or 7 or 10 or 40.

2. Why 12? Because Jesus has come to Israel and so that none of Israel will be lost. He has come to offer them life, to save them from their sins. Now, you might be thinking that this is reading too much into the text. But look at verse 14: this is a sign. “When the people saw the sign that he had done,…”

3. John identifies that there is a deeper symbolic message in the feeding of the 5,000 than the mere fact that Jesus used His divine power to fill bellies. Something greater is being taught and this message sets the tone for the chapter as Jesus will declare himself to be the bread of life. Jesus has come so that no one may be lost. He has come to gather Israel in for its salvation. All who are gathered to him will be saved. Those who are satisfied in Jesus are gathered in and will not be lost.

4. Jesus has come to offer the satisfaction that cannot be found anywhere else. Jesus has come to solve the problem of sin that we have and so desperately need someone to deal with. Jesus has come to solve that problem for us.

5. All who belong to Him will be saved or to put it another way, those who are satisfied in Jesus are gathered in and they are not lost. This is a tremendous message that we're going to see repeated in John's gospel over the next few chapters.

6. He has come to save. He has come so that none need to be lost. He has come to redeem. There is no reason for anyone to be lost because He is all sufficient, and He provides exactly what we need.

IV. False Expectations – Verse 14. “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!””

A. They see the symbolism. All that John laid out about Passover and Exodus and crossing the sea and how he's just like Moses. He's the one. That's what Deuteronomy says. Moses said there'd be somebody like me who would rise up. The Jewish expectation was there would be another Moses who would deliver the people. He's doing it. He is the one. He is that deliverer. He is the prophet.

B. Then we see what Jesus does. Verse 15 - “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” Now, wait a minute. I thought they got it right. They're saying you're the new Moses, the new Exodus. You're the deliverer. You're the one, right? They've got it. But we've been told that Jesus knew the hearts of the people, He's able to read that they're drawing the wrong conclusion.

1. They do recognize an important truth. They have seen the sign that He is sent by God, and He is the prophet that Moses spoke of. Yet they are drawing a false conclusion because rather than coming to Him seeing Him as the savior from their sins and the life giver, they're coming to Him because they're wowed by the sign.

2. Wow, that was neat. Which is what we've seen repeatedly in this gospel. In fact, verse 26 of this chapter tells us that when they come to him, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves…”. You are coming for the wrong reason. You're seeing the signs, but you're drawing the wrong conclusion. You're not seeing me as the one who provides what you need spiritually.

3. You're seeing me as somebody who provides for you materially. Somebody who provides for you physically. Now we can have the food that we want. They are thinking physically and materially rather than spiritually. This has happened throughout this gospel. Think of the woman at the well. Jesus says “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.” She says, “Give me that water so I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

C. When Jesus feeds the 5000, they want to make Jesus a physical king who will give them all that they want. We see this point clearly stated in John 6:26. This is why Jesus withdraws from them and returns to the mountain. Just as when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets of stone only to find the people acting sinful and returned to the mountain to receive the Law again, Jesus finds the wrong hearts in these people and returns to the mountain.

D. Jesus has come to be their lasting eternal satisfaction. The people just want to be fed. We will leave that thought there and consider it with greater depth in the future lessons from this chapter as Jesus will explore this problem with the people’s hearts.

CONCLUSION: That's what's being displayed for us here. Unfortunately, the people just simply wanted to be fed. By that I mean they just want their desires met. They want their physical needs confirmed and addressed. They do not see that their spiritual needs must be dealt with. How often God tests us to see if we will trust Jesus to be our all-providing king.

How often He will test us and stand back and see, will the first thing on our lips be, Jesus, you are the all-satisfying king, You can do all things. You have satisfied my needs to the utmost. You have come and dealt with my sins. You have set me free from that which I enslaved myself. You have taken my defilement and corruption and cleansed me. You have placed me in your glorious kingdom and made me to be a servant of yours. In fact, a glorious servant so that you call me brother and God our father. Unbelievable.

Will we see him as that, and have the heart to trust God, no matter what happens physically in this life? No matter what transpires in difficulty and hardship? Will we see Him as the one to trust? Or do we only turn to Him for the physical, wanting Him as a God of comfort and ease.

The Lord is looking for us to turn to Him in every circumstance, whether good or bad, so that we can belong to Him and receive the true life that we need. That's what Jesus is looking for. Looking for those who will have a true, transformed life, a true saving belief in who Jesus is, and not just merely a shell, a facade, a simple, yes, He's the one who does neat things.

I want to leave you with the words of the Apostle Peter, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,…” That's the message of John. He has given us everything we need for godliness, for life, to give us all that we need. He called us so that none would be lost.

He has come to save you from your own foolish life and sinful ways. He’s come to redeem you and make you a child of God. That's what we need to pursue. If we keep that in our mind's eye, and keep that in our sight, that will lead to transforming faith. That will lead to the true belief that Jesus is looking for, to see Him as the one who provides everything we need.

Are you ready to do that? Turn away from your sins. Be immersed in the water for the forgiveness of your sins. Accept Him as the King. Submit to Him and turn everything to Him. Yield to Him and look to Him for all you need. Won't you come while we stand and sing?

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Reference Sermon: Brent Kercheville

There’s a story about a wealthy man who was terminally ill. The doctor said, "There’s only “one thing” that will save you. “A brain transplant.” - It’s an experimental operation. And it’s very expensive." The wealthy guy said, - "Money is no object. Can you get me a brain?"

The doctor said, - "We have three available right now. The first one was from a college professor. But it’ll cost you $10,000." The guy said, "Don’t worry. I can pay; it will make me much wiser. What about the second brain?"

The doctor said, "It was from a rocket scientist. It’ll cost you $100,000." The man said, "I have the money. And I’d be a lot smarter too. But tell me about the third brain."

The doctor said, "The third brain is from a Politician. But it would set you back a million dollars." The man said, "A million dollars? Why so much for his brain?" The doctor said, "It is RARELY used."

We too have unused power in us, above us, around us, it is called The GOSPEL! My wife keeps telling me I’m losing my hearing. Some husbands call it “selective hearing.”

An older couple was sitting outside in their rocking chairs one afternoon.

The wife looked at her husband of 60 years and said,

“I’m proud of you.” He turned to her and said,

“I’m tired of you, too.” She said, “Thanks!”

She looked around at the trees moving and said,

“It’s windy today.” He said, “No it’s not. It’s Thursday.”

She said, “Me too, I’ll go get us some lemonade!”

Hopefully we won’t be hard of hearing when it comes to listening to God’s Word. It says in Mathew 11:15  “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

The resurrection story of Jesus: • Is either the biggest fairy TALE ever invented; • Or the greatest miracle and the most significant event in human history!

I believe it is the greatest miracle that the world has or will ever see! • I don’t know if you have noticed this observation. • But in the Old Testament when talking about the power of God; • The writers always refer to creation. • The miracle of God creating the world out of nothing. • In the New Testament when talking about the power of God; • The writers always refer to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead! • Because there is nothing greater that you can compare with it!

So when you talk about the life of Jesus Christ words like WONDERFUL, UNBELIEVABLE, PRICELESS, AND “MIRACLE” are used. • He entered our world in a miraculous way; • Conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. • During his three years of ministry, the four gospels record 37 miracles of Jesus. • Remember that John 21:25 tells us

“25 And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” • This means that Jesus performed many other miracles to these 37 that were not recorded. • So Jesus entered our world in a miraculous way; • He lived a miraculous life; • And even in death, he has that word ‘miracle’ attributed to him! Peter Larson writes: • "Despite our efforts to keep him out, God intrudes. • The life of Jesus is bracketed by two impossibilities: a virgin's womb and an empty tomb. • Jesus entered our world through a door marked 'No Entrance'; • And left through a door marked 'No Exit’”

Mark shows Jesus appearing to people in different emotional states:

• Mary Magdalene — grieving
• Two disciples — confused
• The Eleven — doubting and discouraged

Jesus doesn’t wait for them to “get it together.” He steps into their grief, confusion, and unbelief.

This is the heart of the gospel: The risen Christ meets us in our real condition, not our ideal condition.

He doesn’t shame them for their fear or doubt.

He calls them forward. He transforms them.

Resurrection power doesn’t just raise Jesus from the dead—it raises His followers from despair.

Our text this morning is found in Mark 16:1-20. Because the empty tomb was discovered on a Sunday morning, every Sunday should be a resurrection celebration.

The title of this message is “MORE THAN JUST A STORY”

The resurrection is more than just an historical event.

Jesus is a risen Savior, and salvation comes by

believing in Him and being obedient to his will.

Verses 1-8 of our TEXT tells us:

“Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene,

Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices,

that they might come and anoint Him.

2 Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week,

they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.

3 And they said among themselves,

“Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?”

4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone

had been rolled away—for it was very large.

5 And entering the tomb, they saw a young man

clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side;

and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed.

You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified.

He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him.

7 But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is

going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him,

as He said to you.” 8 So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb,

for they trembled and were amazed.

And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

It was The Dawn That Changed Everything

The 3 women were walking to the tomb at sunrise.

They carry spices, not hope.

They expect a corpse, not a resurrection.

Their biggest concern is the stone, not the Savior.

But God had already moved the stone.

Note: God works while we worry.

The women were anxious about a barrier that heaven had already removed.

Inside the tomb, they meet a messenger who declares the greatest announcement in history: “He is risen; He is not here.”

Those words didn’t just change their morning—

Those words changed the world.

And yet, verse 8 says they fled in fear.

Even good news can overwhelm us when it’s bigger than our expectations.

The resurrection is not just a doctrine; it’s a disruption.

It overturns despair, rewrites reality, and demands a response.

Then the angel gave them two sets of instructions.

These are the same instructions we should follow today.

He invited them to examine the tomb and look for the evidence. The tomb was empty, but it was full of significance.

In John’s account (Chapt. 20), we’re told the strips of cloth that had covered the body of Jesus were stacked up along with the sheet covering His body.

These women had to be wondering if this was a dream. They had seen the torture and crucifixion of Jesus. They watched as His body was removed from the cross and placed in the tomb. They knew He was dead.

But they were confronted with an empty tomb.

In Acts 1:3 the Bible says Jesus offered the disciples many more “convincing proofs” that He was alive. If you are going to examine the evidence of the resurrection, you have to start with the empty tomb. Even the enemies of Jesus admitted the tomb was empty.

The angel told the women to go tell the disciples

that Jesus was alive and He would meet them in Galilee. However, as we mentioned, verse eight of the text tells us: trembling and bewildered they fled:

They didn’t tell anyone because they were afraid. I can’t really blame them. They were in shock. A little while later Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene

and she delivered the message.

We’ve been given the same command to “go tell” the world that Jesus is alive. How often have we been guilty of the initial behavior of the women? Like them, we are too often too afraid to share the Good News.

The best tool to use is our personal faith story. Just tell people naturally what the risen Lord has done in our life.

Verses 9-14 of the TEXT

“9 Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.

10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept.

11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. 12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.

13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. 14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.”

Mark mentions that later two other people show up claiming they had seen Jesus alive. In Luke 24 we read the story of Jesus appearing to two isciples who were walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, a distance of about eleven miles. They didn’t recognize Jesus.

I would have loved to have been on that original walk to Emmaus, because the Bible says Jesus started with Moses (that’s Genesis) and took them all the way through the Old Testament telling how all the scriptures predicted the Messiah would suffer and die.

When they finally arrived at their house, they invited their companion to join them for dinner. Jesus, who was the guest, became the host, because the Bible says when He broke the bread, their eyes were opened and they recognized it was Jesus.

They were so excited they turned around and traveled eleven miles back to tell the disciples. I imagine they ran this time. Out of breath, I can hear one of them telling Peter, “We saw the Lord! He’s alive!” Mary probably chimed in, “See I told you!” But it says the disciples still didn’t believe.

I think we learn an important lesson from this episode.

The best proof of the resurrection isn’t an empty tomb.

The best proof of the resurrection is when you meet Jesus. I know Jesus is alive not because of any of the arguments about the historical resurrection. I know He’s alive because He lives inside of me and I talk to Him all the time.We can say that Jesus feels alive because:

• We sense His presence in prayer
• Ww see changes in their our lives
• We experience peace, forgiveness, or purpose we can’t explain

“As true Christians, Jesus feels alive because we experience Him, not just read about Him.” The fact that billions of people across centuries have claimed life change through Jesus is part of the explanation.

For example:

• “If someone changes your life, they feel real to you.”
• “If someone’s influence continues long after their death,

we say their legacy lives on.

Christians go further—they believe Jesus Himself lives on.”

Now, back to Verses 15-18 of the text

Where Jesus then gives a mission that matches the magnitude of His victory:

“15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;

18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.””

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”

This is not a suggestion. It’s a sending.

Notice the scope:

• All the world — no boundaries
• Every creature — no exclusions

The resurrection is not private news. It’s public truth. It’s not for a select few. It’s for everyone. Jesus promises signs that will accompany believers—

not to glorify the believer, but to confirm the message. The point is not the spectacular; the point is the Savior. The power of God follows the proclamation of God.

The chapter ends with Jesus ascending to the right hand of God—a position of authority, victory, and intercession.

But the story doesn’t end with Jesus leaving.

It ends with the disciples going.

“They went out and preached everywhere,

the Lord working with them.”

That’s the pattern of the church:

• We go.
• He works.
• Lives change.

The resurrection leads to mission.

The ascension leads to empowerment.

The gospel leads to action.

What This Means for Us Today

A. God still moves stones.

The obstacles that intimidate us are often already handled by God.

B. Jesus meets us in our real struggles.

Doubt, fear, grief—none of these disqualify us from encountering the risen Christ.

C. We are called to go.

Every believer is sent.

D. We don’t go alone.

The Lord works with us. The resurrection is not just a past event—it’s a present power.

Conclusion: The Story Continues With Us

Mark 16 begins with fear and ends with boldness.

It begins with a sealed tomb and ends with an open world. It begins with omen carrying spices and ends with disciples carrying the gospel. The resurrection is not the end of Jesus’ story—it’s the beginning of ours.

He is risen. He is reigning. He is working with us still.

So let us go—into our homes, our workplaces, our communities—and proclaim the good news that changed everything. Salvation isn’t knowing about Jesus; it is knowing Jesus. JESUS GAVE US A JOB TO DO In these final words of Mark’s writing, Jesus has given us three tasks to do. Jesus said in Mathew 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom

will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”

The Bible says our days are numbered and it is appointed once for a person to die.

GOD IS alive! Do you believe Him? Do you know Him?

Will you follow Him?

Things to Ponder Ephesians 5:15–21

The text for this morning’s lesson is found in Ephesians 5 verses 15 thru 21. These few verses are very familiar to many of us because they remind us to:

Be careful how you live; don’t live foolishly but wisely. Use every opportunity because the days are urgent. Don’t be drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, giving thanks to God, and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

A man named Bob heard a sermon on “walking wisely” and decided to take it literally.

The next morning he stared at his feet all day to make sure every step was “wise.” He was so focused on his walking that he walked straight into a mailbox. He apologized to it.

Later, he saw a grocery store sign that said, “SPIRITS ON SALE.” He gasped, “Revival has hit aisle 9!” Then he realized it was the liquor aisle and backed away like it was radioactive.

Determined to obey the verse about “speaking in psalms and hymns,” he answered every question in hymns for the rest of the day. At the checkout, the cashier asked, “Paper or plastic?” Harold sang, “I surrender all…” The cashier quietly chose paper.

That evening he tripped over his cat, spilled his groceries, and dropped his keys through the porch slats. But remembering “give thanks always,” he sighed and said, “Lord, thank You that the cat survived, the groceries mostly survived, and the keys… well… You know where they are.”

Did you realize all the things we do with time? We “MAKE” time, and we TAKE time, for things that are important to us. We “SAVE” time with all kinds of gadgets and doodads. We “MARK” time, we “KILL” time, we “RACE AGAINST” time. AND (someone noted) that the worst thing you can do with time, is “WASTE” time.

As I mentioned earlier… Our text today is found in Ephesians 5:15–21

The first two verses of this text tells us:

15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Wisdom is not merely knowledge; it is careful living. To “be careful how you live” is to pay attention to the small choices that shape character—how we speak, whom we trust, how we spend time and money. Wisdom notices the long-term consequences of short-term pleasures.

The world presses us with distractions that promise fulfillment but steal our days. Paul calls us to invest our hours in what lasts: love, justice, discipleship, and gospel witness.

Paul tells us to redeem the time…. but why? What’s so critical about time that it must be redeemed? Most of us would think the reason time is valuable because we only have so much of it. Sooner or later, we’re all gonna die. Now, if you’re blessed you may live 80 or 90 or100 years, but sooner or later your time is gonna run out. So don’t waste your time!!! But that is not really what Paul says here. “Redeem the time... because the days are evil.”

ILLUS: What does that mean? Well, think about it this way. Do you have a bucket list? A bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you “kick the bucket.” Please take a moment to think about what items you would put on your bucket list.

You might have things like travel to Europe or Australia with a friend, swim with dolphins or go deep sea fishing, meet a famous person, make a HOLE IN ONE, go parasailing or jump out of an airplane.

There are all kinds of things you could put on your “bucket list” - and there’s nothing wrong with those things (except maybe jumping out of an airplane 😊).

And what people have on their bucket list tells you a lot about their priorities.

It’s a wish list, and I think that God is OK with that kind of thing. But He warns us not to be foolish. He warns us THAT THERE IS ONE THING THAT WE MUST MAKE SURE TO NOT LEAVE OFF that list.

What is that ONE THING we must not leave off our bucket list?

We find that one thing in verse 17 of our text this morning. Ephesians 5:17 “Therefore do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.” Everything else you put on your bucket list is just for fun, but this one – this “understanding the will of the Lord... this one is serious. We live in a world of evil, and the choices we make have eternal consequences. And since God has saved you and I.... he asks us to shine our light into this dark world.

Ephesians 5:8 & 10 tells us “At one time you were darkness, but now you are LIGHT in the Lord. Walk as children of light... and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.”

Jesus said “You are the light of the world”. That means you and I are called to reflect HIS LIGHT into this dark world, and the only way we’re going to do that effectively is to UNDERSTAND what God’s will is.

So, how do we do that? How do we learn God’s will? Well, you’d think the answer would be - read your Bible. Memorize huge passages of Scripture. Meditate on God’s Word day and night. And that is good stuff because that’s what God expects of us.

But the problem is, if that’s all you do (immerse yourself in Scripture) you could end up like the Pharisees.

The Pharisees knew more of their Bible than most of us, but there was something missing in their lives. And so, in place of asking us to Memorize and Meditate... Paul writes this in verse 18 of our text Ephesians 5:18: “... do not get drunk with wine, for that is sin, but be filled with the Spirit”

What? What’s he talking about here?

Well, he’s saying that in order for us to fully understand God’s will, we must be totally controlled by God’s Spirit. And then he makes an odd comparison: “don’t get drunk on wine” he says. That seems illogical until you understand what he’s trying to say.

The command to be filled with the Spirit contrasts two masters: intoxication and inspiration.

Paul’s image contrasts being controlled by wine with being controlled by the Spirit. One leads to loss of self and harm, the other leads to life, clarity, and communal worship.

ILLUS: Have you ever seen someone who’s been drunk?

How can you tell if they’re drunk if you’ve never seen them take a drink? Well, you can tell they’re drunk by how they walk, by how they talk, by how they think and by how they act. Everything about their drunkenness is obvious by their behavior. They are FILLED with alcohol... and it controls them.

By contrast Paul says, don’t be filled with alcohol (don’t get drunk) but be FILLED with the Spirit. In other words, the Spirit should so fill you that it controls how you walk and talk and think and act.

That is crucial for Christians - we need to be so filled with the Spirit of God that people know it when they see our behavior!

The Christian life is not a set of isolated acts but a pattern. Small changes to your daily lifestyle become habits; small disciplines become sanctifying rhythms.

So, how do we get FILLED with the Holy Spirit? Well, first we need to understand that we already have the Spirit inside of us. Acts 2:38 promises us "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.”

This is important to us as Christians because Spiritual fullness is not a private emotion; it produces public fruit—joy, gratitude, mutual encouragement, and submission rooted in Christlike love.

May we begin each day with a short prayer asking for the Spirit’s guidance.

Ephesians 1:14 tells us - God’s Spirit “is THE GUARANTEE of our inheritance.” You can’t be a Christian without God’s Spirit inside of you. So, first we need to realize we already have the Spirit inside of us.

But here in Ephesians it says we need to be “refilled” with Spirit. What’s that all about? Well, first let’s examine what Paul tells us to do, and then I’ll try to explain WHY this is so important. First, Paul says in verse 19 of our text that in order for us to be filled with God’s Spirit we need to... SING. We should be “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart” Ephesians 5:19

Paul instructs believers to speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs—language that builds up, teaches, and reminds.

One of the greatest singers in the Bible was a little shepherd boy named David. The book of Psalms is a collection of 150 songs (or Psalms) that the Jews sang, and David wrote half of them. He was so good at singing that people began to pay attention long before David ever confronted Goliath. In the meantime, King Saul (the King of Israel) had decided to stop listening to God, and run his kingdom his own way.

So, God withdrew His Spirit from him and the King became plagued with an evil Spirit. He plunged into depression, and that EVIL SPIRIT so tormented King Saul that (on the advice of one of his friends) he sent for David to sing for him. And we’re told in 1st Samuel 16:23 that “David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him.”

Music has power over evil. And it has the power to bring peace to the heart and soul. So, when you’re depressed or struggling - find a song that glorifies God and sing it. I grew up with my grandma singing throughout the day various hymns as she completed housework.

ILLUS: One song we could sing in most any situation in life is “This World Is Not My Home.” “This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue; The angels beckon me from heaven's open door. And I can't feel at home in this world anymore.”

The chorus “O Lord, you know I have no friend like you, if heaven's not my home, dear Lord what will I do? The angels beckon me from heaven's open door, and I can't feel at home in this world anymore.” Now, it doesn’t matter if you can sing well and with much power. The point is: find a song that glorifies God... and sing it.

Use the power of GOD’S music to lift your soul out of despair and sadness.

The gospel forms a community where worship is both vertical (to God) and horizontal (to one another). Our songs and words shape both holiness and practice.

Secondly - Paul tells us in verse 20, that in order to be filled with God’s Spirit, we need to be “giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” Ephesians 5:20

Now, quiz time: HOW OFTEN do should give thanks?

(ALWAYS)

and FOR WHAT should we give thanks?

(EVERTHING).

There’s a lot of people who have a hard time doing that.

ILLUS: Rudyard Kipling was a great writer and poet who made a lot of money for his writings. One time a newspaper reporter came up to him and said, “Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over a hundred dollars a word; Mr. Kipling raised his eyebrows and said, “Really, I certainly wasn’t aware of that.” The reporter cynically reached down into his pocket and pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill and gave it to Kipling and said, “Here’s a hundred-dollar bill, Mr. Kipling. Now, you give me one of your hundred-dollar words.”

Mr. Kipling looked at that hundred-dollar bill for a moment, took it, folded it up, and put it in his pocket and said, “Thanks.”

He’s right! The word ‘thanks’ is certainly more than a hundred-dollar word. I would say it is more like a million-dollar word. Thank you is one word that is too seldom heard, too rarely spoken, and too often forgotten.

If we would all adopt an attitude of thanksgiving into our lives – our lives would be changed. We would cherish each day.

ILLUS: Studies have been done over the years where people have been asked to write down 10 things they’re thankful for and after an extended period of time the list is often still incomplete. Many people become so negative they struggle think of 10 things they’re thankful for. BUT, when given a tablet of paper and asked to write down things they were unhappy about, or disappointed with, or frustrated about, they could fill out an entire tablet of paper... and ask for another.

Why? Why are they so unhappy? Well, because most folks aren’t used to being thankful for what they have. For example, they don’t express thankfulness for the fact that they have 2 hands. Why should they? They’ve ALWAYS had those two hands. And they’ve always had the ability to run and laugh and hear and see and sing. Why be grateful for those things?

As we say our evening prayers let’s try listing three things we thank God for each evening.

By contrast, these folks tend to focus instead on what they DON’T HAVE. They dwell on the wanting of a better job, or a better car, or a better spouse, or a better ... whatever. And that’s why they’re so depressed – there is ALWAYS going to be stuff that they don’t have, or that they can’t possess! So they end up being miserable/unhappy people.

Philippians 4:4-7 says “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice... do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Learn to be grateful for what you have (and quit focusing on what you don’t have) and you’ll be so filled with God’s Spirit that it will change how you think and how you behave. And the world around you will notice.

CLOSE: I want to close by explaining WHY it’s so important to be “Filled” with Holy Spirit. We talked about HOW we could do that, but I promised to tell you why it was so critical to do that. The Bible tells us that Spirit is a very powerful force. He teaches us, He comforts us, He helps us in our prayers when we don’t know what to say.

Romans 8:11 tells us that We have the same power living in us... that raised Jesus from the dead!!!! “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Being “filled with the Spirit” is all about laying hold of the full power of the Spirit God has given us. You see, in order for the Spirit to operate fully in our lives, we’ve got to make our hearts decent places for Him to reside.

Gracious God, grant us eyes to see how we live, courage to redeem our time, and the fullness of your Spirit to shape our words and deeds. Teach us to sing to one another, to serve one another, and to submit to one another in reverence for Christ. Fill our homes, our workplaces, and our church with your wisdom and your joy. And it is in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Acts 2:38 tells us "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Sermon Contributor : David Dykes

Witnesses to The Deity of Jesus

John 5:30-47

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. In this section of John’s Gospel Jesus is proving that He is God. We started this chapter where Jesus healed the disabled man on the Sabbath. We saw that rather than the religious leaders being overjoyed seeing the sign and believing, they are concerned that He has healed on the Sabbath and begin to persecute Him.

Jesus responded to that by saying, of course I'm working on the Sabbath because God works on the Sabbath and I'm God. That led them to want to kill Him. Thinking of Mark’s lesson last week, we realize these leaders have already determined what they will do with Jesus. Not based on who He is or the good He has done but based on their own concepts.

The rest of this chapter is Jesus’ testimony that He is God. Jesus showed that He is equal to the Father in person, works, power, judgment, and honor. Further, Jesus has the power to determine who will be given life and who will be raised to life or raised to judgment. Jesus rounds out His argument for His deity by presenting witnesses to His Godhood.

Let’s begin then at John 5:30-32 – “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.” Jesus changes His approach to the closed minds of the priests, still trying to induce them to believe. He can see that nothing He can say has any weight with them, but they should interpret the sign as Nicodemus did.

Then Jesus declares "My witness of myself is absolutely true, because I am doing the will of God who sent me." He knows they are rejecting His witness of Himself because He is the one witnessing. The Law of Moses called for one’s testimony concerning a crime committed be validated by two or three witnesses (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15). Jesus does not need to provide any witnesses for He has not committed a crime. However, Jesus is going to offer witnesses so that His testimony will not be rejected.

I. John the Baptist - The witnesses that Jesus offers are not the witnesses that we might expect. Jesus is not just going to use witnesses to prove that He is God, but to show that those people, as well as us, have an enormous deficiency in their relationship with God. Jesus does not just say let me prove to you who I am.

A. John 5:32-34 – “There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.” In verse 33 He reminds them that they sent people to John and John bore witness to the truth. Carefully look at verse 34. That's not the witness He wants to call to the stand, however. John is a witness, and that is a point that is made quite clear in John 1.

B. Remember the Pharisees send various people to John to find out who John is. We saw in chapter 1; No, I'm not Elijah. No, I'm not the prophet. I am the voice crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord.

1. That is the message that John was giving, the Lord is coming and you need to get ready. Make every way straight, get your lives in order. You sent priests and Levites to John, and He bore witness to that truth, but I don't need John's testimony. In fact, I don't need the testimony of any human, He says.

2. Then Jesus says in verse 34, “but I say these things so that you may be saved”. I bring John to the stand, not because I need John to prove who I am or to act as a witness on my part. You should have listened to what John had to say. I remind you of John and what his testimony was because he spoke about Me. He said the Lord was coming. The Lord now has come. I am the One.

C. John 5:35 – “He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.” This is a reference back to Psalm 132:17, where we read of the burning lamp that will come before the anointed. That burning lamp has come. That was John, and now the anointed has arrived, and that's Jesus.

1. You were so interested in John for a while, but something happened and you stopped rejoicing in that message. You heard John. You heard what he had to say. He's proclaiming the arrival of the Lord.

2. They heard John, listened to the message and rejoiced in it for a little while… for a little while. Then I believe as is common to the human condition, people go back doing the same things they were always doing. They heard the message to prepare for the coming of the Lord. They heard the message to get your life right before the arrival of God, and rejoiced in it for a little while. Then they stopped rejoicing in that message, stopped proclaiming what was about to occur. They forgot the witness of John.

3. I believe that is an important reminder for us. It is so easy for us to rejoice in the message of the Lord, to hear the good news of salvation, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and the resurrection as we've seen in this chapter. We rejoice in it for a little while, and then go right on back doing the things that we've always been doing. It's life back to normal. We forget the glorious message that we have received, the great hope that we have in His Word, and we return to doing what we've always done.

D. Jesus tells them, I say these things so that you can be saved. Hear what John says, Jesus is God. He is the Lord who has come. Don’t forget that glorious teaching of John, of this great One who has come to save us from our sins. That brings us to verse 36.

II. Jesus’ Works Are a Witness – “But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.” His first witness to the stand is obvious and clear. He says all that you need to do is see what I'm doing. All that you need to do is see these works that I'm doing.

A. These things should be evidence to us that Jesus is clearly God. No one else can do what Jesus has done.

1. No one can do these kinds of work. If you remember the framework of this Gospel, John has written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and he has selected seven signs in this Gospel, only seven. He's neglected all kinds of signs and miracles that could have been selected and chose only seven.

2. In fact, before John tells us the reason he wrote this Gospel, he says Jesus did many other signs which are not written in this book. Then he says, but these things I've chosen that you may believe. John has selected these signs because these are to generate faith that Jesus is God.

B. These miracles we read about are not simply wow-factor miracles. Wow, He healed this guy who'd been disabled for 38 years! While certainly amazing, there's something far more that Jesus wants everybody to see. It is to generate faith that He must be God, and He is God because He's doing what only God can do.

1. His actions replicate what God has done in time past. We read about these in the Scriptures. That's one of the beautiful things that we're going to see as we continue our study through John. We are going to read about Jesus doing things that the Father had done in the past.

2. Jesus in one simple sentence, verse 36, says, I have greater testimony than John, a far greater witness, My works. If that is not enough, let's bring another witness to the stand. Verse 37.

III. The Father’s Witness – John 5:37-38 - “And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.”

A. The next one to the witness stand is the Father. Jesus says, I've got someone else who testifies as to who I am. We certainly have John, but I don't need him. First I have my works, and then I have the Father who bears witness about me as well.

1. We might think that what would happen next is John would show through the words of Jesus how the Father gives His testimony to the Son. However instead Jesus says, His voice you've never heard, His form you've never seen, and you do not have His Word abiding in you, for you do not believe in the One who was sent.

2. We read that and say, what kind of testimony is that? Where's the testimony of the Father? We expect the testimony to be what you read in John 1. At the baptism of Jesus, the heavens open and here is the Father speaking. This is My beloved Son. The Holy Spirit descends upon Him, and this is what we might think of as the witness of the Father. That is not the argument given here.

3. Instead, Jesus tells them you don't know God. You don't know who the Father is. That's why you don't comprehend the witness of the Father. You don't even know who He is. This is a shattering, shocking declaration for Jesus to tell a bunch of Israelites, Jewish leaders, these religious leaders, His voice you have never heard.

4. Jesus saying to us, “you haven't seen Him and you haven't heard Him”, we'd probably say, we know we haven't seen Him or heard Him. However, that's not the point that Jesus is making here. The point that Jesus is making to them is you have rejected the Father.

B. Look at the three statements tied together here; “(1) His voice you have never heard, (2) his form you have never seen, and (3) you do not have his word abiding in you,” Whose voice did they hear at Mount Sinai? God’s voice. Some patriarchs saw the form of God, Jacob for example. They claimed to follow God’s word. These three things Israel held on to.

1. Yet Jesus is saying you have no relationship to the Father at all. You don't know who I am because you don't know God the Father. You aren't hearing His voice, and you aren't seeing who He is. His words are not in you. A greater messenger has come, One greater than Moses, One who is the revealer of God, and you reject Me.

2. For you to reject Me means you don't know God at all. That is a powerful statement, and in verse 38 He says, this is the reason you do not believe the One whom He has sent. You are worshiping God, believing in God, trying to do the things of God. I tell you, you don't know God. You have not heard Him or seen Him and His words are not in you. You're not children of God at all.

3. If the Father were to take the stand, His words are, you don't know me. The reason I know you don't know me is because you don't know my Son. The witness of the Father is, if you knew me, you'd know my Son. If you don't know the Son, you don't know Me.

IV. The Scriptures’ Witness – Look back at John 5:39-44, “39. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40. yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41. I do not receive glory from people. 42. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

A. Jesus brings another witness to the stand. Every piece of Scripture speaks to Jesus. Think about the weight of that statement. “You search the Scriptures because you think in them that they have eternal life. It is they that bear witness about me.”

1. The scriptures in Jesus’ day are what we call the Old Testament. Everything from Genesis to Malachi bears witness to Jesus. He says, you're reading looking for life and you're failing to see Me when you read.

2. The paradox of knowing the Scriptures and yet not knowing them still exists; and it is imperative for us to know the word of the Lord truly. Knowing the common traditions with reference to it is not enough. Simply knowing what is written without believing cannot avail. Familiarity with sacred words may exist in a foul and degenerate heart. Those people to whom Jesus spoke these teachings had perverted their knowledge of the word of God in such a manner as to remove all true knowledge of it.

B. How had they done this?

1. They had made the word of God of no effect by their traditions; and a perfect example of that is in this incident. These men have substituted their own petty rules in place of God's true Sabbath law.

2. They had also changed the meaning of the words God had given them. God had promised a Messiah whose qualities of glory and humiliation should have been sufficient to identify Him when He came; but some of the hierarchy instead projected two Messiahs, making one of them the lowly and suffering priest, and the other the mighty conqueror who would chase out the Romans and restore the Solomonic empire. (rabbinic literature)

3. They rejected out of hand many of the plainest prophecies, especially those projecting the call of the Gentiles to salvation (Romans 9:25-29). True knowledge of God's word is a far different thing from familiarity with Scriptural texts. The Old Testament contains hundreds of references to Christ. Scholars note at least 300-350 distinct prophecies, covering His birth, ministry, and crucifixion, with many more foreshadowing’s.

C. If we want to get to know Jesus, we need to read the Old Testament because those books testify about Jesus. One reason we do not know our Lord and why we remain weak Christians is because we do not know the whole of scriptures. We come along and decide to ignore the Old Testament and wonder why we can’t figure God’s word out. Every book is speaking about Jesus. Jesus says that you can read the scriptures all that you want, but if you do not see Me in the scriptures, then you are not going to find life.

1. Worse, we might do what these Jewish leaders did. We search the scriptures, but we do not read the scriptures for what they say. We turn the scriptures into a doctrine finding mission. We memorize places where baptism is taught or where we are commanded to assembly together. We know the places to turn to so we can have an argument with people who disagree with us.

2. We do not read and take in the scriptures to find life. We study what we think we need to know. We try to boil down the scriptures to simple statements and memorize clichés. We need to read the scriptures to get to know Jesus. We do not need to read the scriptures to prove what we have always known or see what we have always seen or confirm what we already believe.

3. These leaders are criticized for how they are searching the scriptures. There is a wrong way to read the Bible. Read to learn about your God and let His word transform your life.

D. In John 5:41 Jesus says, “I do not receive glory from people.” He is not interested in their approval, or in meeting their expectations. Jesus is not going to change what He is doing to satisfy the expectations of the religious leaders. He came in the name of the Father and does what the Father has given Him to do.

1. Then He says in verse 42, “But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.” Wow, I’m sure they were insulted. Verse 43, “I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.”

2. You have expectations of what you want your Messiah to be. I'm not here to be what you want Me to be, to meet your expectations, or to fulfill your wants and desires of this world. I have come in the Father's name, I am who I am, I am God.

3. He tells them, you’ll accept anybody else who comes along because they will tickle your ears and make you happy and give you what you want. You'll listen to other people because they give you what you're looking for in this life. I fear Jesus would say the same thing to people today.

4. I wonder sometimes if we want a Jesus who does for us, and we do not want a Jesus that we have to sacrifice for or give for or do anything for. He's supposed to do things for us.

E. Then in verse 44 Jesus askes a question. “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” How can you believe when all that you're concerned about is what everybody else thinks? They want the glory of other people. We will see in John 12:42 that "They loved the glory that is of men more than the glory that is of God."

1. I suspect sometimes that is one of the reasons that we fail to draw closer to God. We need to find Jesus in the Scriptures and belong to Him. Instead, we seek the glory from people rather than the glory from God.

2. We are concerned about the approval of others—family, friends, or our community. We want everybody to pat us on the back, and we will do whatever it takes for them to approve of us.

3. The ways of God are not the ways of our family, our friends, or our community. Too often we can become so focused on being people pleasers and not realizing that our effort to please people is keeping us from pleasing God. We're trying to do everything else for everybody else and not seeking the approval and glory that comes from the only God. It is easy to slip into, easy to focus on, all the wrong things.

V. Moses’ Witness - The final witness is Moses, John 5:45, “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father…” I'm not going to be your accuser, Jesus says. Remember He's already preached about the resurrection, that one day the graves are going to be opened and everybody is going to be raised either to resurrection of life or to a resurrection of judgment.

A. Jesus says, I'm not the one pointing the finger at you. “… There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope.” The great leader of Israel, the great giver of the law, Moses is the one who accuses you.

B. John 5:46-47, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” For Moses to be the accuser of the people is unbelievable.

1. Read Exodus through Deuteronomy. What is the role that Moses played on behalf of the people repeatedly? Intercessor. He always stood and protected the people and would pray to God on their behalf over and over again. Jesus says, He's not your intercessor, he's your accuser.

2. How strange that those leaders, thinking so strongly that they had eternal life through Moses, were unbelievers of the writings of the great lawgiver. Such is the deceptiveness of sin, that people who truly imagine themselves to be believers are in fact no such thing! There were many prophecies in "Moses," regarding Christ. As Hovey said: "This is a perfectly clear testimony on the part of Christ to a Messianic element in the Pentateuch, as well as to the Mosaic authorship of the same."

3. Moses wrote about Jesus through direct prophecies, symbolic types, and foundational stories in the Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy). Some key references include the promised "Seed" who crushes the serpent (Genesis 3:15), Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:1-18) the prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), the bronze snake (Numbers 21:4-9) the Star from Jacob (Numbers 24:17) and the Passover Lamb (Exodus 12).

C. The significance of the testimony of Christ here is great. God is the author of the Old Testament, no less than of the New Testament; and there is no way by which a true believer in Christ can avoid full acceptance of God's word as revealed in the Old Testament. It is true now, as it was then, that if men do not believe Moses, they will not believe Christ either.

CONCLUSION: It's a frightening warning to us that it is entirely possible for us to be able to quote this Bible backward and forward and not know one bit of our Lord and not see Him for who He is.

Well, the witnesses have been presented. Jesus is God according to John the Baptizer, according to His own miraculous works, according to the Father, according to the scriptures, and according to Moses. We must search all the scriptures, not just the New Testament, and find Jesus to which all of God’s word points. Then with open hearts we see the glory of God, not the glory of people, so that we will believe in Jesus and put our hope in Him. He is the giver of life and His very words will give life to those who hear Him and obey Him. Today is the day to accept Jesus as the Lord and submit to His words to receive life.

Pull your song books out. We'll sing the Invitation Song. We're inviting you to come to Jesus. He is God. He came to this world and He died for sins. God came in the flesh and died because of our sins.

He allowed that to happen so that we could have forgiveness of sins, so that we could be reconciled back to Him, and so that we could be redeemed, that we could have hope. One day we'd get to be with God and see Him as He is. What a great blessing that He was willing to do this. God takes on the form of a servant, and human flesh, and dies for the people that He created. There’s no greater love.

Turn to Him by repenting of your sins and be immersed in water to have your sins washed away and walk in newness of life with Him until the day that He calls you home.

Won't you come while we stand and sing?

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Reference: Brent Kercheville, James Burton Coffman

This morning I would like to focus on the topic of questions.

Questions fill our lives on a daily basis.

Of course there are the meaningless questions:

• “If tomatoes are a fruit, does that make ketchup a smoothie?”
• “Why do we say ‘slept like a baby’ when babies wake up every two hours?”
• “Why is it called a building if it’s already built?”
• “If you’re waiting for the waiter… doesn’t that make you the waiter?”

• “If two mind readers read each other’s minds, whose mind are they reading?”
• “If Cinderella’s shoe fit perfectly, why did it fall off?”
• “If money doesn’t grow on trees, why do banks have branches?”

And, there are the questions that get you nowhere:

·         How old do you think I am?

·         Does this dress make me look fat?

·         I don’t know, what do you want to do?

If you have an iPhone you can ask Siri questions. She’s pretty smart at math. One day I asked Siri:

“What is zero divided by zero.” Her answer was,

“Imagine that you have zero cookies and you divide them between zero friends. See it makes no sense.

And Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies, and you are sad because you have no friends.”

And, of course The Bible contains many questions.

In fact the first recorded word of Satan in Genesis 3 was a question to Eve about God’s character.

He asked, “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the Garden?”

That wasn’t what God said at all, but the devil is still trying to get people to question God’s character. In the same chapter, God’s first question in the Bible was when He asked Adam, “Where are you?” Of course, He knew where Adam was; He just wanted Adam to admit it. God said to man, “Where are you?”

And the first question of the New Testament is man asking where God is. In Matthew 2:2, the Magi asked Herod, “Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?”

There are many other important questions in the Bible.

Job asked, “If a man dies, shall he live again?”

Jesus asked, “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”

Paul asked, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

The writer of Hebrews asks, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.”

But of all the questions in the Bible, I believe the most important question is the one we are going to hear Pontius Pilate ask. I believe this is Life’s Most Important Question.

In Matthew’s account, Pilate asks, “What then shall I do with Jesus?” (Matthew 27:22)

I have to answer that question. You have to answer that question.

In fact, that is a question that every person who has ever lived must answer.

Mark 15:1–20 describes Jesus before Pilate, the crowd choosing Barabbas, and the soldiers mocking Jesus. Several questions are asked in this passage, but one stands out as the most theologically significant: “Are you the King of the Jews?” (Mark 15:2)

This question matters most because:

• It goes straight to Jesus’ identity, which is the central theme of Mark’s Gospel.
• It forces the reader to confront the same issue:

Who is Jesus really?

• Pilate’s question becomes the pivot for the entire trial and crucifixion narrative.
• Jesus’ answer — “You say so” — is subtle but affirming, and it sets the stage for the charges against Him.

Pilate asks this question to the crowd standing before him: “What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?”

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

“Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.

But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”

Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!”

Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they finished mocking him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

I’m going to have you each answer Pilate’s question: “What will I do with Jesus?” It’s a personal question; it’s not “What will WE do with Jesus?”

It’s a pressing question, because it’s one you must answer before you die and stand before God. Life is full of choices. There have never been more choices.

When I grew up, we had NBC, CBS, and ABC, we had to move the antennae to pick up those different stations.

Today, with cable, satellite, and streaming services you have thousands of viewing choices.

We used to have vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate ice cream, and today there are thousands of different flavors including peanut butter ice cream, pickle ice cream, and bacon ice cream.

But those are relatively insignificant choices.

Life is full of important choices.

Will you get married? Who will you marry?

Where will you go to college?

What career will you choose?

Those are big decisions.

But the biggest choice you’ll ever make is,

“What will I do with Jesus?”

The good news is that God gives you a choice about what you will do with Jesus. God is too much of a gentleman to force anyone to accept His love.

In Deuteronomy 30 when Moses was poised with the second generation of Israelites ready to enter the Promised Land, he said, “God has placed before you life and death, blessings and curses, now CHOOSE LIFE!”

As Joshua faced the nation after they had taken much of the Promised Land he said, “Choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!” (Joshua 24:15).

When Elijah faced a nation devoted to Baal worship, He declared a God contest on Mt. Carmel. He said, “No more sitting on the fence. If Baal is God, then choose to worship him. If Yahweh is God,

choose to worship Him!”

In this message I want to present five different choices you can make about how you answer the question, “What Shall I do with Jesus?”

1. PILATE: You may choose to reject Him After Pilate interviewed Jesus, the Bible says, “He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.” (Mark 15:15)

Pilate was the ultimate Roman authority on this case.

He had the power to release Jesus or to have Him crucified.

Luke tells us Pilate went back to the Jewish leaders three times and said, “This man has done nothing wrong. He doesn’t deserve the death penalty.”

It seems clear that Pilate wanted to pardon Jesus and set Him free. But He gave into the mob mentality. In John’s account the Jewish leaders find Pilate’s soft spot. They said, “If you let Him go, you are no friend of Caesar. We heard Him claim to be a king and anyone who claims to be a king is no friend of Caesar.”

Pilate only had one boss, Caesar, and he didn’t want these pesky Jews to threaten his job. So, he gave into the political pressure and he chose his career over Christ.

There are people in our culture who seem interested in Jesus. They are fascinated by His claims. But it is not politically correct to say Jesus is the only way to heaven. And some people think if they followed Jesus, it would cost them their momentum on their career track. So like, Pilate, many people reject Jesus and choose their careers over Christ.

2. HEROD: You may choose to admire Him When Pilate learned Jesus was from Galilee, he wanted to shift some of the responsibility, so he had Jesus sent to Herod Antipas, who was the governor of Galilee. This was the same Herod Antipas who beheaded John the Baptist. The Bible says in Luke 23:8, “When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.” Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus just stood there silently. This frustrated Herod, so he started mocking Jesus and put an elegant robe on Him and sent Him back to Pilate.

Herod represents those people who simply admire Jesus as a great moral teacher, like Socrates or Confucius.

3. THE MOB: You may choose to replace Him Pilate was still trying to figure out a way to release Jesus. Since there was a custom to pardon a prisoner at Passover, Pilate suggested they allow him to release Jesus. But the crowd would have none of it. The Bible says, “But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.” (Matthew 27:20)

We’re told in the text that Barabbas had committed murder. So, the crowd was faced with setting free a miracle worker, or a murderer. And they chose Barabbas. By this time, Jesus’ approval rating among the Jewish elite was so low, that they preferred a hardened criminal to a teacher who preached love and forgiveness.

Today, millions choose a replacement for Jesus. Even non-religious people have replaced Christ.

Many atheists have replaced Christ with human reason and worship at the altar of science. Many greedy American consumers have replaced Christ with their ongoing passion to have more and more

and the newest and the best.

If Jesus isn’t #1 on a list of 1 in your life, you have replaced Him with someone or something else.

4. THE SOLDIERS: You may choose to mock Him The Bible says, “They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ they said. They spit on him and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.” (Matthew 27:28-30)

Christ and Christianity are being mocked today like never before. On one hand we are seeing some Christian movies like God’s Not Dead, War Room, Captive, and Risen. But at the same time, we live in a culture that is becoming more and more hostile toward Jesus and Christians. There has been a rise in television shows that make a mockery of our faith. Not long ago Saturday Night Live presented a vulgar spoof of the movie, “God’s Not Dead.”

There are many people who will join the Roman soldiers and continue to make a mockery of Jesus and His followers. That’s their choice.

5. GOD: You may choose to crown Him as Lord So the most important question you’ll ever answer in your life is this: What will I do with Jesus? You have to answer that question. If you say, “I just won’t answer it, I won’t do anything with Jesus.” That is doing something with Jesus.

Basically all of the responses fall into two categories: Rejecting Christ or Receiving Christ; Crucifying Jesus or Crowning Jesus as Lord. Turning your back on Him, or Trusting Him.

God gives us the only correct answer. The only choice that will lead to eternal life is to crown Him as Lord. Have you chosen to do that?

The Bible says in Ephesians 1 that “God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world

to be holy and blameless in His sight.” (Ephesians 1:4) God made a choice about what to do with His Son. And it’s the choice we should make. All around the world, there are people who are bowing down.

Some are bowing beside their beds looking to heaven.

Some are bowing down facing Mecca.

Some are bowing down and praying to a statue of Buddha.

But God makes it clear that one day every knee will bow to Jesus. The Bible says, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11).

CONCLUSION:

There are some important questions that need answers, and God provides the answer.

Everybody wants to know, “How can I go to heaven?”

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the Father except through me.

The Bible says, “There is no other name except Jesus under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved.”

“For God so love the world that he gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Mark 16:15-16 “15 And he said unto them, go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

Acts 2:37-38 “37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved? 38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

We need to realize that today, Satan is still trying to put question marks where God puts a period.

I believe there are many statements in the Bible that deserve the strong emotion of an exclamation point.

When John the Baptist saw Jesus, I don’t think he said,

“Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

I believe he said, “Look! The Lamb of God

who takes away the sin of the world!”

John wrote, “Behold what manner of love the father has shown us that we should be called

children of God!” On that morning after Jesus appeared to Mary in the Garden she ran back to the disciples.

Do you think she said, “I have seen the Lord.”?

No, I believe she said, “I have seen the Lord!!!!!!!”

As Christians, we should be living in the exclamation points of the Bible.!” One day, the question, “What DID I do with Jesus?” will have an eternal impact on our life.

Two Resurrections

John 5:25-29

INTRODUCTION: Good morning church. One of the big questions that life holds for us is what happens after all is said and done. What happens next? When our time on this earth is done, what happens then? Everybody wants to know the answer to that. The world is full of speculations and philosophies about it.

We're in a section of John’s Gospel where Jesus is proclaiming His deity, proclaiming that He is God. Jesus also is proclaiming two powers that He has, the power of life, we read that in verse 21, and the power of judgment, verse 22. Then in verse 24 He says “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

Next Jesus discusses a truth that there are two resurrections. One is a voluntary resurrection and the other is an involuntary resurrection. Let’s look at Jesus explanation of the two resurrections.

I.     Resurrection #1 – We will read John 5:25-27. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.”

A.   Jesus is saying this is an absolute certainty. “truly, truly”, indicates an absolute. Then He says “an hour is coming, and is now here” which is a phrase that Jesus used in John 4:23 where the Samaritan woman is asking about the place to worship. She wants to know if they should be worshipping on this mountain like her ancestors have taught, or whether they should be worshipping in Jerusalem at the temple as the Jews taught.

1.    Jesus' answer was there is an hour coming and now is, where worshippers are going to be worshipping in spirit and in truth. The idea of this time marker is that the time has come now, but it's going to be more obvious, clearer in the times to come. It would become clear, after Jesus' resurrection, and after the arrival of the kingdom as we read in Acts 2.

2.    Jesus tells the Samaritan woman that true worship is no longer restricted to a specific place (like Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim) but is now centered in "spirit and truth" through His presence.

3.    In the same way, I suspect this is the same time marker that Jesus is giving here. The time has already come in terms of the resurrection, and will become clearer. He says in verse 25, “… when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.”

4.    It means the spiritually dead can immediately hear His voice and receive life, while also pointing to the future bodily resurrection. This suggests that the fulfillment of God’s promises was already occurring in Jesus ministry ("now is"), while the full, complete manifestation of that reality was still being realized ("coming").

B.   Verse 24 tells us the context (I paraphrase); those who hear My words and they believe in Him who sent Me—they're the ones receiving eternal life. They do not come into judgment, but they have passed from death to life. This is a picture of spiritual life. There's a time coming, in fact, the hour is now, where the dead are hearing the voice of the Son of God and those who hear that voice, are coming to life.

1.    Jesus and the Apostles are teaching and reminding people that they are dead. You are dead and now is the time for the dead to hear the voice of the Son of God and come into life.

2.    The time has come for them to hear the Word of God and to be moved from the realm of perishing in their sins and move into the new kingdom and new realm of life, of spiritual life, of eternal life. The hour is now, I am here, God has given Me the power of life.

3.    That reminds me of verse 21, “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.” Unfortunately, I think this reminder that we are dead was not received then, or even now.

4.    We like to look at ourselves and think we're alive. We have a life going on, we're going to do this and that and we've got our schedules and plans and visions of the future. Here's how life is going to go. We are unable so many times to see how devastatingly, spiritually dead we are, and the same was true then. We forget our spiritual condition, just look at life, think we're fine, and then go on our way.

C.   Do you recall Ezekiel 37? Ezekiel 37:1, “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.” Imagine you are in a valley and you are surrounded by bones. Starting in verse 2, “And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 3. And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 4. Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.””

D.   Ezekiel, here's what I want you to do. Speak the word of the Lord and when you do you are going to see these bones come to life. Then you're going to know that I'm God. At verse 7, “So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.” Can you imagine standing there watching that happen? Verse 8, “And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them. 9. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” 10. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

11. Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’ 12. Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. 13. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. 14. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.””

E.   Jesus comes on the scene and says, the hour is coming, and now is here, where the dead are hearing the voice of God, and they are coming to life. What an amazing time! People are now able to receive life into their dead bones. God is picturing throughout time that we are dead in our sins. We are those dry, brittle bones. God says, I will speak my words, and when I speak those words, life is going to enter.

1.    Is it any wonder then that Jesus is saying at the time, let those who have ears to hear, let them hear? He is speaking the powerful words of life, listen to what He has to say. Verse 25 says, “the dead are going to hear the voice of the Son of God”, but see the next part, “And those who hear will live.”

2.    Are we listening to the life-giving voice of the Son of God?

Are we hearing what our Lord has to say?

Are we listening to the things that He is telling us to do?

It is the voice of the Son of God that gives life. There's no other place to find it. It is through His words that life is going to be found, that life is put back into these dead bones.

F.    John 5:26 – “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.” That is almost a reiteration of verse 21. Jesus possesses life and He gives life to whom He wills, and He wills to give life to those who hear Him.

1.    When we stop listening, stop growing, we fall back to becoming dead, dry bones in the valley with no life at all. Oh, we think we are alive without Jesus when in fact we are as dead as we could be, unable to see our condition.

2.    “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14. This is the Voluntary Resurrection. The voice of the life-giving Son is speaking. Are you willing to listen so that you can arise from death to life?

G.   In verse 27 we read – “And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.” We saw that in verse 22, He is the giver of life, and He gives it to whoever hears Him. He has authority to execute judgment and that brings us to the second resurrection.

II.    Resurrection #2 – We can imagine the audience with their mouths open, hearing the news that they are dead and that Jesus is God, the giver of life to those who hear His voice. These people should have known they were dead, but Jesus is teaching them, as He must teach us, that we are dead in our sins and need the life that can only be found in Jesus.

A.   John 5:28-29 – “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming…” He says don’t be surprised that I have the power and authority. Notice this time He does not say “and is now”. This is something different. Jesus is looking forward to a coming hour. This is not an event that is already occurring… rather it is an event that will occur in the future. There is a time coming but it is not now, and He continues, “… when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, …”

1.    There is a time coming when everybody who is in the grave is going to hear the powerful voice of Jesus and they are going to come out. This is The Involuntary Resurrection. Think about what this looks like. Every single person who has ever lived, at the powerful word of Jesus, is going to come to life. Every person who has ever lived will hear the voice of Jesus when He returns and there will be resurrection.

2.    We are being told how powerful the words of Jesus are. The voice of Jesus is able to give life to our spiritually dead souls and is able to raise our bodies from the grave. Verse 27 performs a bridge to this thought. In verse 26 we are told that the Son has life in Himself. We see in verse 21 He gives life to whom He wills, and we have been told He gives life to those who hear His voice.

3.    We are spiritually dead but the words of Jesus will bring us life. Jesus also has the authority to execute judgment. The hour is coming when every person in the grave will hear the voice of the Lord and will come out to judgment. In this resurrection you are going to be called from your grave. Everyone who has ever died will be raised. All people who have ever lived are going to be raised from the dead.

B.   We see little glimpses of that in the Old Testament. We just read one in Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones, God gives life and everyone is going to stand before Him.

1.    We see in the New Testament, further along in John’s gospel, that Jesus is going to walk up to the tomb of one of His very good friends and He is going to say… “Lazarus, come out”. There is a day that is coming where we will all stand before God.

2.    We see this again in Matthew’s account of the crucifixion, at the death of Jesus “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

C.   Verse 29 continues, “… those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” No one is excluded and there are two outcomes… either to the resurrection of life or to the resurrection of judgment. Verse 29 tells us how this will be determined. We know how this is going to go for us. Jesus tells us it is based upon what we are doing right now.

1.    Jesus is very clear about whom He gives life to and how that resurrection sequence is going to go. Our good works function as evidence, that we have truly heard the voice of Jesus. If we have done what we have seen here in verses 25 and 26, if we have heard the powerful word of Jesus and it has taken our dead bones and caused them to move to life, we are no longer spiritually dead, but we have received eternal life.

2.    Here is Jesus making a promise. When I come back, the hour is coming that all the souls are going to hear My voice. Those who have heard My voice and believed have moved from death to life; they will be raised to be with God.

3.    Our good works, our actions, function as the proof, the evidence, that we have heard Him and have been raised to life. When we lack those things it is a reflection on us. It shows that we truly have not heard the voice of God and have not moved from death to life.

4.    Perhaps this is a challenge and a test to ourselves. How do I know what will happen when everything is said and done? What is going to happen to you and to me when our Lord returns?

D.   Perhaps use 1st Thessalonians 4 where we read, “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” Ask ourselves, will I be going to the resurrection of life or will I be going to the resurrection of judgment?

1.    Here's how you know. Jesus says, I give life to whomever I will, and I give life to those who hear my voice. Those who hear My voice—do good works. There is a life transformation that occurs.

2.    This goes back to John chapter 3. In chapter 3, Jesus is teaching that we are all the condemned. Jesus came so that none would have to perish, but that all could be raised to life.

3.    We know what our outcome will be. There is no question. This teaching is not here so that people would walk away and say I don't know what's going to happen. We know exactly what's going to happen. It is based upon if we have heard the words of Jesus, believed in what He said, and have converted our lives and transformed our actions to follow Him. Based upon that, we will know if we are going to the resurrection of life or the resurrection of judgment.

4.    It is important for us then to look back on our lives, to look back at our actions, to look upon our words carefully and decide what does it look like for us? To which will we be raised? All of us are going to stand before God.

5.    True faith in our Lord will not leave us dead. It will lead to transformed living. It will cause us to have lives that are very different than what we've had before we came to Jesus.

CONCLUSION: I suggest that these verses are among the most instructive in the whole word of God. This is nothing less than the first resurrection, and the contrast of it with the final resurrection. The first is a spiritual rekindling of life, and the second a physical resurrection from the grave. Significantly, the Lord announced that the spiritual resurrection was already in progress, that the Son of God is the author of it, that His word is the means of it, that to receive His word was life, and to reject His word was death.

What a terrible warning to those foes who at that very moment were rejecting His word, not allowing even for a moment His true interpretation of God's sabbath law, but plotting to maintain their own interpretations. Further, by rejecting Jesus' word in such a subordinate area as the sabbath regulations, the priests were light years away from receiving the profound teachings recorded here. They would remain in a state of spiritual death, and the voice of the Lord of life would sound in vain upon their stopped ears. Jesus spoke calling men to spiritual resurrection and they would not hear; but He shall speak again at the final judgment, and then they will hear!

For our Involuntary Resurrection to be favorable and enjoyable and to be going to eternal life rather than eternal punishment, it is of the utmost importance that we experience the Voluntary Resurrection now.

I would like to look at something from Colossians. In Colossians 2, the Apostle Paul uses, as he does in many places, this idea of being dead and coming to life.

At Colossians 2:11, “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,”. There is a cutting that is going on, a cutting off of sins that Christ is accomplishing in our lives.

Next, “having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

Our life is always connected to the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead. If He was raised from the dead, then you're rising from the dead. Paul is not talking about the Involuntary Resurrection here. He means the voluntary one. Because He raised from the dead, you now can have life. In verse 13, “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,” Paul says the same thing as Jesus. You're dead. You're dead in your sins. You are the dry, dead bones scattered in the valley. You have no hope unless you have the Lord. Only when the word of God is spoken over those dead bones can there be life. You were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made us alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of death that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.

If we want life, he says you need to be joined to Jesus. Life will come if we are joined to His death and His resurrection.

Paul does not leave it there. Colossians 3:1, “If then you have been raised with Christ,… ” He says if that's the case, if you've been raised with Him then here's what it's supposed to look like. “… seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

If you've received this life, if you are hearing the life-giving voice of Jesus, then what people will see in you and in me is not us, but Jesus. Our life is hidden in Him, you can't see us anymore, you just see Jesus.

Our life, because our mind is put on the things that are above, our actions are in seeking Him, a life that is changed to follow Him and pursue Him. That's how we know that we've passed from death to life. That is why John wrote his epistle of 1st John, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.”

We can know, just look and see. Have I been joined with Jesus and is my life hidden with Him? If it is, there is reason for rejoicing because it doesn't matter what's going to happen to these physical bodies from here on. It doesn't matter what happens to us in this life. It doesn't matter how long it takes for the Lord to return.

The hope stands firm, one day we will be raised to a resurrection of life. One day the powerful voice of Jesus will be spoken, and we will go to be with our God.

If we have not put our life in Christ, if we have not been buried with Him in baptism, if we have not put our faith in the powerful working of God, then there is reason for great concern because Jesus says, you are still dead in your sins, and on the day that He returns, you will be raised to judgment. Don't let that be the result of your life.

The answer is clear. There is something that happens after death. There is something that awaits all of us. Every single human will stand before the judgment seat of God, giving an account for the things that are done in the body.

Choose today to have life. Choose today to have hope of resurrection to life rather than the depressing thought of resurrection to judgment.

Come to Jesus. Believe in Him with all your heart. Confess Him as the son of God and hear His powerful words and obey those words and follow Him and serve Him.

Won't you come while we stand and while we sing?

# ???

Reference Sermon: Brent Kercheville

Should I Hang-On or Let-Go? Matthew 16:24-26

Men who trap animals in Africa for zoos in America say that one of the hardest animals to catch is the ring-tailed monkey. For the Zulus of that continent, however, it’s simple. They’ve been catching this agile little animal with ease for years. The method Zulus use is based on knowledge of the animal. Their trap is nothing more than a melon growing on a vine. The seeds of this melon are a favorite of the monkey. Knowing this, the Zulus simply cut a hole in the melon, just large enough for the monkey to insert his hand to reach the seeds inside. The monkey will stick his hand in, grab as many seeds as he can, then start to withdraw it. This he cannot do. His fist is now larger than the hole. The monkey will pull and pull BUT as hard as he tries… he cannot free himself if he holds on to the seeds!

And there is the story of the PIRATE who obtained a great chest full of treasure. The pirate held on tightly to that chest because he saw in that chest the fulfillment of his dreams, hopes and aspirations.

He knew that the treasure was the key to his “good life”. Having already obtained a great fortune, the pirate decided to return home and after boarding the ship and having traveled a great distance from shore… a storm arose.

It did not take long for the storm to overtake the ship and eventually break the ship into pieces. Eventually, the pirate and his treasure plunged into the sea.

He began to sink holding tightly to his treasure. As he was sinking, all that went through his mind was how he could get his treasure safely to shore.

However, he began to realize that if he continued to hold onto that chest, he would not be able to make it to shore, and that same chest which he saw as his life... was now causing him to face death.

Reluctantly the pirate let go of that chest and began to swim towards shore.

We are a lot like that pirate. We hold on to our agenda and ego thinking that they are bringing us life, however, that is not the reality. They are really pulling us towards our death and at some point, we must let go.

Sometimes we think we know what is best for our lives. Sometimes we think that we do not need someone else to control us because we are capable of making those good decisions on our own. However, I do not think we always know what is best. I believe our idea of good has been tainted by sin. Jeremiah says, “The heart is exceeding deceitful above all things.” I believe it is that deception that allows us to think we on our own can know what is best for our lives.

We need to learn plainly that the power of a good and godly life is not in us alone, but it comes from Christ. We need to trust that Jesus knows what is best for us

even better than we do.

Letting go can be a very difficult thing. When we let go we become vulnerable. Many people refuse to let go of things in their life because they are afraid of doing so.

Whether it be a sin, some negative trait, bitterness, pride or worry we are often reluctant to simply let go. We have those things we are clinging to and refuse to let go of, however before we can get to Jesus we must let go.

What is it today that is holding you back from letting go?

Is it fear of the unknown?

Is it a fear of what others may think of you?

Perhaps some never change because they don’t want others to think less of them. Is it unwillingness to change?

Is it your pride?

Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:24–26 are among the most challenging—and liberating—in all of Scripture.

They confront our instincts for comfort, control, and self-preservation, and they invite us into a life that is deeper, truer, and more eternal than anything we could build on our own.

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?”

Jesus begins with a word that cuts against the grain of our culture: deny yourself.

This does not mean:

• Hating yourself
• Ignoring your needs
• Becoming passive or joyless

It means:

• Laying down the illusion that we are the center
• Surrendering our will to God’s will
• Letting Christ—not our desires—set the direction of our lives

Self-denial is not self-destruction; it is self-surrender.

It is saying, “Lord, You lead.

I trust You more than I trust myself.”

To Jesus’ first listeners, the cross was not a metaphor.

It was an instrument of death. So when Jesus said, “Take up your cross,” He meant:

• Be willing to die to the old life
• Let go of sin that clings
• Accept that following Him will cost something
• Embrace obedience even when it is uncomfortable

The cross is not a minor inconvenience. It is the place where our old self is crucified so a new life can rise.

Jesus does not say, “Go figure it out.” He says, “Follow Me.”

This means:

• Walking where He walks
• Loving as He loves
• Serving as He serves
• Trusting as He trusts
• Obeying even when we don’t understand

Christianity is not merely believing in Jesus; it is becoming like Jesus.

Jesus reveals a spiritual truth that seems upside-down:

• If you cling to your life—your plans, your comfort,

your control—you lose it.

• If you surrender your life to Christ,

you find the life you were created for.

The world says:

“Protect yourself. Promote yourself. Preserve yourself.”

Jesus says:

“Give yourself away, and you will discover who you truly are.”

The life Jesus offers is not smaller—it is fuller, freer, and eternal.

Jesus asks a question that echoes through every generation:

“What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world BUT forfeits his soul?”

You MAY can gain:

• Wealth
• Success
• Influence
• Comfort
• Applause

But if your soul is empty, lost, or disconnected from God, you have gained nothing that lasts.

The world can fill your hands, but only Christ can fill your soul.

Jesus is not trying to take life from us—He is trying to give us real life.

Following Him means:

• Purpose instead of aimlessness
• Peace instead of anxiety
• Identity instead of insecurity
• Hope instead of despair
• Eternal life instead of temporary satisfaction

The cross leads to resurrection. Surrender leads to freedom. Losing your life leads to finding it.

Jesus taught that we cannot serve two masters.

A ship cannot fly two countries’ flags.

When we deny ourselves and take up our cross, we are allowing Jesus to take over as Lord of our lives.

When Jesus is Lord it means He sets the rules. It means that we are willing to submit ourselves under His authority.

Jesus taught in Matthew 7 , “Many will say to me on that day Lord, Lord, but not enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

When Jesus becomes Lord, it means we concede control of our lives over to Him.

Romans 6:6-7

6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. We learn that at our baptism we not only received the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, but we died. We died with Christ and our old self was crucified in Him.

As Christians we do not gratify our sinful desires any longer. In other words, as a Christian there are still things that are sinful that I would LIKE to do.

I am still TEMPTED to do wrong things; however, I REFUSE doing them because I am not going to gratify those desires any longer because I am not living to myself.

Colossians 3:5-10

5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 

6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 

8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

If we have really died to self, then we will not give into those temptations and desires we have. The new self should be increasingly more God-like in its actions.

Ephesians 4:22-24

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. We No Longer Live to Ourselves

Galatians 2:20

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. We need to understand that we no longer live to ourselves.

We have died. Let us remember that dying to self means that WE no longer live, but it is CHRIST living in us.

Why Is Letting Go of Self So Difficult?

The idea of Heaven and eternity with God sounds great and perhaps many would volunteer to receive that, however the idea of signing your life away doesn’t sound too appealing, does it?

We love those feel-good verses of Scripture, but we begin to squirm a little when we read of the cost of following Jesus.

We love to be in control. We get a little uncomfortable when we read about denying ourselves and taking up our cross. That doesn’t sound too appealing.

William Ernest Henley in his famous poem entitled “Invictus” said, “I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.”

Many of us have bought into this philosophy that we are the master of our lives. We like to be in control. I would much rather be in control of a situation than have someone else in control of the situation.

I am one of those people that would rather do it myself than entrust it to someone else. That is not a good attribute.

We need to learn to allow Jesus to be the master of our fate and the captain of my soul. Perhaps some feel like it is a violation of their freedoms to lay aside themselves and let Jesus take control. Perhaps they feel that this is the sign of somebody being weak and vulnerable.

Jesus taught that we must lose our lives to really find it.

By that He means that we give up the project of making OURSELVES the ultimate reference point in our world. We are not number one. The universe does not revolve around us.

We live in a very selfish society. The idea of sacrificing and giving up something

doesn’t sound appealing to many people. We are people that want to know the price of everything and the cost of nothing. We want to get as much as we can while doing as little as possible to get it.

The idea of delaying gratification seems ridiculous to many. We live by the philosophy, “if it feels good it must be right.”

What Must We do to Let go of Self? We must step down. Perhaps we need to have the mindset that John the Baptist had when he said I must decrease and Christ must increase.

We must be willing to step aside and let Him have the glory and honor of all that we do or accomplish.

We must step down from our position of authority over our lives and give Him the reins.

There are many tools we can use such as prayer, Bible study, service, worship, and fellowship, but the reality is we must train ourselves to be godly.

Jesus is calling you to deny yourself today!

What cross is He asking you to pick up?

What part of your life is He inviting you to surrender so He can give you something better?

The call of Jesus is costly—but the reward is eternal.

Jesus Is God

John 5:15-24

INTRO: Good morning church. In our study of John 5 we read about Jesus healing a disabled man on a Sabbath. This man had been in this condition for 38 years, equal to the time of the helplessness and hopelessness of the Israelites as they were punished for their sins in the wilderness during the days of Moses. We suggested this maybe the reason that Jesus selects this man over all the other people who are in this covered porch area. The man's inability to move contrasts with Jesus' command, showing that spiritual life comes through Christ's word (grace) rather than human effort or strict observance (law).

Verse 9 tells us that this was the Sabbath and problems are going to arise for Jesus from the Jewish leadership. The religious leaders, focused on Sabbath rules, were spiritually blind, and couldn't see the miracle. They question the healed man about whom it was that healed him, but he did not know who it was. Later, Jesus finds this healed man at the temple and tells him to sin no more so that no worse thing will happen to him.

John 5:15-16, “The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.” These verses tell us that the healed man, goes to the Jewish leaders and tells them that it was Jesus who had healed him. This ignites a persecution against Jesus because He was healing on the Sabbath. Jesus responds to this persecution by teaching that He is equal to God… because He is God. What we are about to read is Jesus’ own defense of His deity.

I. Jesus Is Equal with God in His Person (John 5:17-18) – Jesus’ answer is fascinating. The Jewish persecution is because they are charging Jesus with doing work on the Sabbath. Rather than teaching them that healing is not work and not a violation of the Sabbath, Jesus goes the other direction and argues that He is working on the Sabbath and why that is acceptable. This is not at all what we would expect to read, and I would imagine it took the Jewish leaders by surprise.

A. Listen to the statement Jesus makes in verse 17. “But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”[ESV] Jesus says, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” He is saying, “You’re right, I'm working.

1. Consider what Jesus is doing by saying those words and agreeing with them that He is working on the Sabbath. He is also making the observation that what He is doing is acceptable. It is right for Him to work on the Sabbath.

2. To understand that let’s consider Genesis 2:2-3. “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” It is not stated here that God rested from all activity, but that He rested from creation, "His work that He had done," an expression twice repeated in verse 2. In verse 3 here also, the specific thing from which it is stated that God rested is the work of creation.

3. Jewish sources acknowledge God's ongoing work (providence, sustaining life) but distinguish it from human general activity, i.e. creative, productive labor. Priests did not stop working when the Sabbath day came but were in the sanctuary working for the Lord (Matthew 12:5).

4. It was acceptable for God since He is the creator of all things, to then, “violate the Sabbath”, because He's over all things. I just think this is an interesting aside. I mean, if you must justify God for doing anything, you are probably working from a lousy position in the first place. Of course, God is working. He is sustaining all things.

5. Notice what Jesus does in verse 17. He places Himself in a unique relationship with the Father. He doesn't say our Father is working. He says, my Father is working. He excludes everybody else from this. The idea is of course; humans are under the requirements of the Sabbath Law… but God is not. Therefore, Jesus must be working. To put it another way, if you recognize that God the Father is working, then I must be working as well, because I'm God. That's exactly how the Jews understand it.

B. John 5:18, “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” It is not only the persecution of verse 16, now they want to kill Him. Jesus makes the claim that He is equal with God. This is the thrust of the argument Jesus is making. My Father is still working continually, and so am I.

1. An aside here. We're living in a time where some people say that in the scriptures Jesus never claimed to be God. We will see that He claims to be God five times in this text and the first is right here. God's working: therefore, I must be working. There's no option. I must work because I'm God. God works on the Sabbath, and so do I, because I'm God.

2. Jesus does not tell them that they misunderstood, instead He is going to offer four more proofs that He is God and is equal to God in every way.

II. Jesus Is Equal to God in His Works (John 5:19-20) – “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.”

A. Look at the two parts of this amazing answer that Jesus gives. First, the Son does not do things with His own initiative, but only what He sees the Father doing. Please underline the word “see.” Who can see what the Father is doing? Do you see what God the Father is doing right now?

1. No human can see what God is doing. In fact, John made that argument at the very beginning of this gospel. “No one has seen God at any time.” Here Jesus is making an extraordinary statement. I see what the Father is doing. I am able to observe His actions.

2. Humans cannot observe those actions. Humans cannot see God, nor see everything that He does. Jesus says, I see what the Father is doing. I'm not doing my own works. I'm doing everything I see God do.

3. Jesus is saying that His action has been in harmony with the will of God. That places Him in a very important state of privilege. That makes Him God, because He can see God and humans cannot see God.

4. Not only does He say that He sees God, but He says He does what the Father does. No human can do what God does. Can you be holy and pure and right so that every action you take is the same action as God in holiness and purity?

·         Can you do what God does?

·         Can you speak worlds into existence?

·         Can you say, let there be light and there is light?

·         Can you create anything? Humans do a great job at making all kinds of things, but we cannot create something out of nothing.

5. He says, I see what my Father does, and I do exactly what He does. Nobody else can do that.

B. Then Jesus adds in verse 20, “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.” Not only does Jesus see what the Father does, not only does He then do what the Father does, He goes further and says that the Father reveals to Jesus everything that He's doing, everything that is going on.

1. He has full knowledge of the Father in every aspect, in every category, full understanding, because the Father has revealed it to Him. Think back to John 1:1, it says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” That is very important to us, Jesus is the Word. He reveals the very message of God. Jesus reveals everything to us about the Father. He is the revealer of who God is.

2. The Son is obedient to the Father in every way and acts in such a way as to reveal who the Father is and does the Father's works and performs the Father's will. It is why Jesus later in this gospel says, if you've seen me, you've seen the father. Why? Because I do what He does.

3. He reveals everything to me; therefore, since I'm obedient to Him, everything that I do reflects the Father. Everything that I say reflects the very words of God himself. He is taking this to another level and is telling them, I'm not human. I'm God. That's why I'm working because God is working.

C. Notice how verse 20 tacks on the end of that—you're going to see greater works than these. I'm going to do greater things than this. Greater signs than healing this disabled man are going to come from the Father through the Son. Of course, His greatest sign will be when He is lifted up on the cross to His death only to rise from the dead three days later. That then is the second proof. He's equal to God because He does the works of God.

III. Jesus Is Equal to God in Power (John 5:21) – The third is verse 21 – “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.”

A. Jesus’ claim to be able to raise the dead and give life to whomever He wills, is startling. Raising the dead and giving life are the sole works… and choices, of God.

1. Carefully observe what Jesus is arguing. He's not just simply saying, “I can raise people from the dead.” If we look back to the Old Testament, we can see the dead raised and life given. Elijah prayed to God and raised the widow’s son from the dead. Here Jesus is not claiming to be God’s instrument through which resurrection and life come. Notice how that verse ended – “… the Son gives life to whom he will.”

2. Can Elijah say that? No. No one has that power. The prophets could not give life to whoever they wanted. They all relied upon the power of God to perform those miracles, but Jesus is not an instrument through which God was healing. Jesus is the healer.

B. Go back to John 1:4, “In him was life!” This is an important truth to the lesson Jesus is teaching, and the direction Jesus wants to lead His audience. Jesus gives life to whoever He wants. Jesus makes the choice. It is the prerogative of Jesus to make that determination.

IV. Jesus is Equal to God in Judgment (John 5:22) – “For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, ”. Just like the power to raise from the dead and give life, so also is the assertion of judgment. Who alone can judge? Only God can judge. All judgment is given to the Son. Therefore, Jesus is God because He has the power to judge.

A. This is another important truth to the lesson Jesus is teaching. Jesus is the determiner of life and Jesus is the judge. Jesus deals with the two realities confessed in the Jewish faith. Only God gives life at the beginning and only God gives judgment at the end. Jesus has just laid claim to both of those prerogatives, claiming them for His own.

B. This then is the fourth – Jesus is the one who brings judgment. Paul in 2nd Timothy 4:7 says, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day…”

V. Jesus Is Equal to God in Honor (John 5:23) – Why has all life-giving and judgment-related authority been given to the Son? Jesus explains in verse 23: “that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father…”

A. The reason Jesus has all life-giving authority, and the reason that He has the authority and the power to judge, is so that everybody on earth, all peoples, will honor the Son as He ought to be honored, just as they honor the Father.

1. Conversely, to not give Jesus equal honor is to not honor the Father. Anyone who fails to acknowledge the authority of the Son is rejecting the Sender, the Father. To say that Jesus is just a prophet, just a good guy, just somebody you should follow, an interesting figure in history, is to not honor the Father. Those who say Jesus is not the Christ, but a prophet is anti-Christ. 1st John 2:22.

2. Jesus is saying, You must honor me on an equal level as God or you are not honoring the Father. You are not honoring the one who sent me. That is important today. Everybody is all “yea God”, but not everybody is “yea Jesus”. It’s just too polarizing to bring up Jesus they say, just say God.

3. You cannot honor the Father unless you honor the son. You cannot honor the Father unless you honor Jesus. It is not possible. Jesus makes that argument crystal clear right here. There is no way to honor Him unless you honor the One and only Son. You cannot leave Him out, and if you do so, that is an insult to the Father. To fail to acknowledge the authority of the Son is to reject the authority of the Father.

B. Therefore, in contrast with the Jewish leaders’ charge of blasphemy, Jesus is honoring the Father because He is doing the Father’s will. His acts honor the Father. However, by them dishonoring Jesus they are dishonoring the Father. In a great turn of events, it is they, not Him, who is dishonoring God.

VI. Concluding Call (John 5:24) – In verse 24, the fifth point, Jesus ties together who He is and what this means to these people and to the world. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” I suggest what Jesus just said is calling upon them to bow the knee, to submit and to serve and to worship Jesus as God. He says, “…hears my word and believes…”

A. We can take those two things as passive concepts. He is not being passive with His audience. When you say that your child never listens, what do you mean by that? That they are deaf and can't hear? No, you mean they are disobedient. They do not do as they are told.

1. Hearing and believing Christ's word is equivalent to believing God who sent Him. Believing Jesus is believing God!

2. Here is another skillful advocacy of His deity. This focuses upon the true mission of our Lord's coming into the world—to bring men eternal life. The Pharisees, had they been interested in such a blessing, might have been convinced by this promise; but they were too busy with their earthly concerns to pay any attention to the great hope shown in these words.

B. Jesus says, “…hears my word AND believes him who sent me…” Remember Nicodemus? Nicodemus comes to Jesus and says we know that you are from God.

1. Sounds like belief. Jesus says to him unless you are born again you will not see the kingdom of God. Then Jesus spends time trying to teach him about the need for life transformation. In John’s gospel we have been reading of people who have shallow, simple belief that has not led to life transformation. Jesus is working in each of those cases to try to get them to see that is not enough.

2. If we have experienced this life change, if we hear the words of Jesus and believe, submitting and doing what He says, believing in Him, we are experiencing that transformation from His words.

C. Jesus determines the destiny of every soul. Jesus determines the judgment of every person. Jesus decides to whom He will give life. Jesus calls for the ears of everyone to carefully hear as He says, “Truly, truly” to begin this glorious teaching. Listen carefully to the words of our Lord because they are true. Whoever hears the words of Jesus believes in Him and believes in the One who sent Him has eternal life.

1. The call is to bow the knee and worship Jesus as God, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is divine and has come to this world with the power of life and the power of judgment. Listen to the words of Jesus, which does not mean to merely hear what He says but to do what He says. We are to listen to the words of Jesus and believe.

2. We saw in chapter 3, and we will continue to remind ourselves of this as we go through this gospel, that saving faith is not just acknowledgment, but to be born again. Hearing and believing is to obey the words of Jesus and experience radical life transformation from His word. Those are the people who have eternal life.

3. Listen to the wonderful words at the end of verse 24: “… He (the person who hears and believes) does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” Life is defined as a person having crossed over from death to life. To pass from death to life is to be born from above. It implies a line of demarcation between those who have returned to God’s side and those who remain against Him.

CONCLUSION:

Please note that this is not in the future tense. Notice how John describes this as our current condition. Jesus is the judge because the Father has given all judgment into His hand. We do not come into judgment when we hear the words of Jesus and believe. In fact, we have passed from death to life already. To use the words of the apostle Paul, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness (death) and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son (life) in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

You have life now when you come to Jesus. You will pass from death to life when you listen to Jesus and give your life to Him in submission.

Jesus gives life to whom He wills (John 5:21). Jesus gives life to those who hear Him and believe Him (John 5:24). All judgment has been given to Jesus (John 5:22). Whoever dishonors Jesus also dishonors the Father (John 5:23).

How do you honor the king? The only way to honor the king is to bow the knee and submit to His authority. We honor the king by worshiping the king. We honor the king by praising the king. We honor the king by doing what the king commands. Jesus is God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Submit to your king and your God.

If you have not accepted Jesus and believed in Him and submitted your life to Him, that is your starting point—believe that Jesus is the son of God who came to this world and died for your sins. Be immersed in water to have your sins washed away to enter a relationship with Him so that you can know that you have eternal life.

If you've already begun there, don't stop. Do not think you can put your life in neutral and you're good to go. Deepen the relationship. See Him as the treasure.

Recognize Him and honor Him for who He is. We invite you to come while we stand and while we sing.

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Reference Sermon: Brent Kercheville

LIFE’S TRIALS: SINKING or STAYING AFLOAT? Matthew 14: 22–33

There are moments in every believer’s life when Jesus calls us out of what is familiar and safe.

Sometimes it’s a new ministry, a hard conversation, a step of repentance, or a season of suffering. And in those moments, we often feel like Peter—caught between faith and fear, between the comfort of the boat and the invitation of Christ.

Once there was a tourist who was taking a tour of biblical sites, when he came to a beach on the Sea of Galilee, he saw a boat and a sign advertising, “FREE BOAT RIDE TO THE EXACT PLACE WHERE JESUS AND PETER WALKED ON WATER!!!”

He boarded the boat and enjoyed the ride to the middle of the lake where the boat captain stopped the boat and announced that this was the spot where they had walked on the water. After spending a few minutes at that spot, the tourist said to the boat captain, “Ok, I’ve seen enough, I’m ready to back to shore.”

The boat captain pointing to the sign, and said, “The boat ride to the exact place where Jesus and Peter walked on the water was free, but the ride back to shore is not free, it will cost you $50 for the ride back to shore.” The tourist, shocked by the charge, exclaimed, “No wonder Peter got out and walked!”

Today we are going to examine this moment in Peter’s life when he walked on the water. We all know that he didn’t walk on the water because the boat captain was going to charge him too much for the trip back to shore. But why did Peter walk on the water?

And, how did Peter walk on the water? And most importantly, what did Peter learn from the experience and what can we learn from it?

This story is not just about a man walking on water.

It’s about a Savior who meets us in the storm, calls us beyond our limits, and refuses to let us drown.

Please turn with me to our text for this morning’s lesson found in Matthew 14: 22–33

The 1st thing I noticed is that Jesus Sends Them Into the Storm Matthew tells us that in verse 22, Jesus “made the disciples get into the boat”.

They didn’t drift into trouble. They were sent.

Note: Obedience does not prevent storms. Sometimes it leads us straight into them.

So, I ask the question:

Did the storm take the disciples by surprise?

Absolutely! (They didn’t have a weather app). Did the storm take Jesus by surprise? Absolutely Not. So, why did Jesus tell them to get in a boat and cross the lake when He knew a storm was coming? Do you think there were some lessons they needed to learn that could only be learned in the midst of a storm?

Sometimes the storms we face are the result of our disobedience and God’s correction and discipline. Other times, the storms we face come not because we have been disobedient, but because we have been obedient and we are in God’s will.

Another thing to keep in mind about the storms we face have to do with God’s knowledge. While Jesus was in prayer on the mountain, do you think He was aware of what the disciples were experiencing in the storm?

I believe Jesus knew and could see exactly where they were and what they were going through. But, if Jesus knew, then why didn’t He come to their rescue sooner? I trust that Jesus came to their rescue at precisely the very best time and not a moment before.

Even though we can’t always see God in the midst of our storms, we can trust that God sees us and that God has a plan for our rescue.

Let’s turn our attention back to the story. Let’s see what happened when Jesus showed up.

The disciples were exactly where Jesus told them to be, doing exactly what He told them to do — and still the wind was against them. Many believers assume that hardship means they’ve done something wrong. But sometimes the storm is the classroom where Christ teaches us what calm seas never could.

The 2nd thing I want to note is that Jesus Comes to Them in the Darkest Watch. It was the fourth watch of the night — between 3 and 6 a.m. The darkest, coldest, most exhausted moment. And that’s when Jesus came. Not early. Not when they still had strength. Not when the waves were manageable.

A Lesson to us is that: Jesus often shows Himself most clearly when our strength is gone. He walks on the very thing that threatens to destroy them. What terrifies them is under His feet.

The 3rd thing to note is Peter’s Bold Request: “Lord, if it is You, command me…”

Peter gets criticized for sinking, but let’s be honest — he’s the only one who got out of the boat. He doesn’t move on impulse. He doesn’t test Jesus. He asks for a command.

Key lesson here is: Faith is not reckless. Faith responds to the voice of Jesus. Peter doesn’t walk on water. He walks on the word of Christ.

Peter Walks — Until He Looks Away. As long as his eyes are on Jesus, he does the impossible. But when he shifts his focus to the wind, fear floods in.

The main note for us is that: Fear grows when we meditate on the storm instead of the Savior.

The wind had been there the whole time. Nothing changed except Peter’s focus.

And yet — even in his failure — Peter does the most important thing he could do:

He cries out, “Lord, save me!”

Another thing to note is that: Jesus Immediately Reaches Out. Not eventually. Not after a lecture. Not after Peter proves himself. Immediately.

Jesus doesn’t let His children drown in their own weakness. He lifts Peter up and asks, “Why did you doubt?”

Not to shame him, but to teach him. May we realize that Jesus uses our sinking moments to deepen our faith, not to condemn us.

The wind doesn’t stop when Peter walks. It stops when Jesus steps into the boat. The presence of Christ brings peace that circumstances cannot. And the disciples respond the only way that makes sense: They worship Him.

Over the years, some people have criticized Peter and reacted negatively to what Peter did. Some have said that Peter was conceited and was trying to be a showoff – “Hey look at me, no hands!” But Peter asked for permission and then waited for permission to be granted.

If Jesus had said, “No,” then I’m sure Peter would have stayed in the boat. But Jesus didn’t say, “No,” rather, Jesus said, “Come on.” At that moment, the smartest thing Peter could do was get out of the boat. Once Jesus commanded that Peter come, then he had better obey, and he did obey. And so, Peter got out of the boat – how can anyone criticize him for that?

In some respects, I wish the story ended right there... Peter walked on the water, period! But the story doesn’t end there – we all know what happened next. The Bible says in verse 30 of our text: But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

Peter was fully walking on the water... walking away from the boat...walking toward Jesus. Everything was going great, then came the “but” – “But when he saw the wind, he was afraid.” Everything went just fine until Peter took his focus off Jesus and began to focus on the storm.

How long did it take for Peter to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus? Only a second! Keep in mind that the storm never stopped raging while Peter walked on the water. The wind was still blowing, and the waves were tossing the boat about and the rain was coming down in sheets.

Many old time ministers define faith as “concentration on Jesus.” That is a great definition – how easy is it for us to be distracted by life and the storms and challenges of life, and when we do our faith can waver. But when, through faith, we concentrate on Jesus and focus on Him, then we can have peace and power, even when the storm rages around us. Just because we focus on Christ does not mean that the wind and waves are going to stop.

Peter began to sink into the water, but when it happened, he immediately cried out for Jesus to help him. Do you think Peter was a swimmer? I’m sure Peter was a pretty good swimmer, he had spent his life around or on the water but isn’t it interesting that he didn’t attempt to swim. His first thought wasn’t, “I can handle this, or do it on my own,” rather his first thought was to pray and ask for help.

Peter prayed one of the shortest prayers in the Bible, “Lord, save me.” Sometimes there isn’t time for a long prayer – like when you are about to drown. Prayers don’t need to be long or detailed – they just need to be sincere and specific. No sooner than the words were spoken, Jesus’ help arrived.

Verses 31–33 of our text, “31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”

Jesus didn’t rebuke Peter because he wanted to walk on the water, but He did rebuke him for his lack of faith. Peter had the faith to get out of the boat but then didn’t have the faith to sustain him. There’s a difference between short faith and long faith, or shallow faith and deep faith. But in spite of Peter’s lack of faith, Jesus was willing to help him. While Jesus continued to stand on the water, He took hold of Peter and pulled him back up on top of the water and together they walked over and got into the boat.

Jesus used this teachable moment with Peter and the other disciples. And the moment they were back in the boat the wind and rain subsided and those in the boat worshiped Jesus.

What aspect of the Christian life have you lacked the faith to be able to step out of the boat and try? If we are never willing to take a chance and step out of the boat, then we will never walk on water and discover what living by faith is all about.

So, Let’s step out of the boat, obeying the command to walk by faith. Let’s not play it safe like the disciples who stayed in the boat, but let’s be like Peter who took a risk and walked on water and 2000 years later we are still talking about it.

But unlike Peter, we don’t have to sink, if we will keep walking by faith, keeping our eyes on the Lord. I pray that we will be great risk-takers for the kingdom of God. I pray that God will help us shake ourselves loose from the security of staying in the boat. And I pray that God will help us continue to walk on the waters of faith because we trust in God’s power and wisdom to uphold us.

Conclusion: What Is Jesus Calling You to Step Out Into?

Every believer has a “boat” — a place of comfort, predictability, and control. And every believer hears the voice of Jesus saying, “Come.”

• Maybe He’s calling you to forgive someone
• Maybe He’s calling you to trust Him in a diagnosis
• Maybe He’s calling you to serve in a new way
• Maybe He’s calling you to walk through grief with faith
• Maybe He’s calling you to surrender a fear

you’ve carried for years

The question is not whether the wind is strong. It always is. The question is: Will you keep your eyes on Jesus?

Today, if you feel the storm, if you feel the wind, if you feel like you’re sinking — cry out like Peter: “Lord, save me.” And the One who walks on waves will reach out His hand. Immediately. Faithfully. Powerfully.

The Lesson is yours as we stand and sing!

Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming.

One second he was peacefully perched in his cage.

The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner.

She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up.

She had barely said "hello" when "ssssopp!" Chippie got sucked in. The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie -- still alive, but stunned.

Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water.

Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . .

She reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

A few days after the trauma, the reporter who had initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. "Well," she replied, "Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore -- he just sits and stares." It’s hard not to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over . . .

That’s enough to steal the song from the stoutest heart. “Sucked in, washed up, and Blown over” that about sums up how many of us feel at times isn’t it?

It describes the certainty of trials and feelings of powerlessness that trials bring. An Army Chaplain had a sign on his door that said, “If you have troubles, come in and tell me all about them.

If you don’t have troubles, come in and tell me how you do it.” James reminds us of the reality that even in the Christian life, there are trials and temptations.

However, the Christian does not have to be a victim of his circumstance but can have victory even in times of trials and testing.

James tells us No matter what the trials on the outside, we can experience victory through faith in Christ.

How do you respond when Life Deals You A Lemon?........

James doesn’t pretend suffering is imaginary or avoidable. Instead, he reframes it. He shows that suffering is not a sign of God’s absence but a space where something meaningful can grow.

James says that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

And perseverance leads to being mature and complete.

• Suffering isn’t pointless
• It shapes character
• It strengthens spiritual endurance
• It grows us into people who can stand firm

James is blunt: you cannot become spiritually mature without going through things that stretch you.

James connects trials with wisdom. Why?

Because suffering exposes our limits.

It forces us to ask questions we can’t answer alone.

James says God gives wisdom generously and without finding fault.

Suffering becomes the doorway to deeper dependence on God.

For Christians to turn ‘tears of despair into tears of joy’ there are three things we need to obey.

And the 1st one is found in James 1:2

" Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds."

Now notice that James doesn't say "if" but "when".

In other words you can just count on it, Christians must expect trials. Jesus Himself said in John 16:33,

“I have told you this so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble, but be courageous-I have overcome the world!"

Some trials come simply because we are human, and this would be things like sickness, accidents, disappointments, and death.

But other trials come because we are Christians.

Peter tells us in 1st Peter 4:12

“Dear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.”

Paul also tells us in 2nd Timothy 3:12

“Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in union with Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” And so, because Satan fights us, and the world opposes us, we can expect trials.

But how are we to respond to these trials? James says, "Count it all joy!" Remember in Acts 5 when the apostles were pulled in to stand before the Council, after being flogged, the Bible says in Acts 5:41

“They left the Council, rejoicing to have been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.” Let me share a poem with you which I think will help us get the point.

Count your blessings instead of your crosses; Count your gains instead of your losses. Count your joys instead of your woes; Count your friends instead of your foes. Count your smiles instead of your tears; Count your courage instead of your fears. Count your full years instead of your lean; Count your kind deeds instead of your mean. Count your health instead of your wealth; Count on God instead of yourself.

And, look what James says next in James 1:3

"For you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure."

James says if Christians have the right knowledge concerning the value of trials, it makes it possible to have a joyful attitude.

In other words, when we finally understand that trials test our faith, then we can know that the testing of our faith brings the best out in us.

A severe rash prompted a man from a rural area to come to town to be examined by a doctor. After the usual history-taking followed by a series of tests, the physician advised the patient that he would have to get rid of the dog that was obviously causing the allergic reaction.

As the man was preparing to leave the office, the doctor asked him out of curiosity if he planned to sell the animal or give it away. "Neither one," the patient replied.

"I’m going to get me one of them second opinions I been reading about.

It’s a lot easier to find a doctor than a good bird dog." Doctors can give prescriptions and treatment plans, but it is up to the patient to take the prescription and carry out the treatment plan.

In 1st Peter 1:7 we can read the following thought,

“So that the genuineness of your faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when it is tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

Any athlete will tell you that you cannot expect to win anything if you don’t train, but the more you train the stronger you get.

The 2nd point that James is telling us today is that we can have joy in our trials because we know that testing works for us, not against us.

When our faith is tested it produces patience.

Romans 5:3-4 “Not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope”.

In the Bible "Patience" is not a passive acceptance of circumstances.

The Greek word for patience means the ability to exhibit steadfastness and constancy in the face of the most daunting difficulty. In other words, Christians need courage and perseverance in the face of suffering. Christians need to keep on keeping on...  even when life if getting rough, even when our circumstances are difficult.

And make no mistake that kind of perseverance can come only through experiencing trials.

And when Christians finally accept and understand what trials can accomplish in our lives, it’s then we can have a joyful attitude toward our trials.

And please don’t think, ‘well that’s easy for James to say.’

We need to remember what James himself went through.

Before James was killed for being a Christian, he experienced sorrow. Remember that James was one of the main leaders of the Christians in Jerusalem who continually faced persecution from those outside the Church.

James also learned that difficulties can produce patience.

He never tells us to pretend that a trial is nonexistent.

Instead, he wants us to recognize and rejoice that any problem can be an occasion for God to work in and through us in a way that He otherwise wouldn’t.

This is what the Bible calls a "testing of our faith"; it calls us to believe in the goodness of God, and to trust that He is not only willing but able to accomplish His purposes, no matter what befalls us. Any difficulty, whether great or small, is an occasion for joy, but only when we remind ourselves of the nature of the God who loves us.

But for us to really benefit from our trials, we need to understand James’ next point in James 1:4

"And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing."

To truly turn our tears of despair into tears of joy, we need to let "patience" do its work.

We often want to get our trials or difficulties over with quickly, don’t we?

But there are times when the best thing for us to do is to bear up under the trial patiently.

And so instead of grumbling and complaining, we should patiently endure the trial, doing good despite the trial.

Now remember that James is writing to a bunch of Christians who really need to grow up spiritually. And what he is saying here is that when patience has had an opportunity to work, it produces "maturity." When James uses the word perfect, he doesn’t mean sinlessness, but "completeness, wholeness, maturity, and commitment." Webster’s Dictionary tells me that - Commit means to entrust, to give charge, to perform, to pledge.

In my search for the definition of Commit I actually looked at one dictionary which did not even have the word commit in it.

I guess they were not committed to commitment. And if we as Christians want to run the race well spiritually speaking, we need to develop patience and commitment. And that is only going to happen when we train spiritually. In other words we can only grow into spiritual maturity if we allow ourselves to face trails which test our faith.

And everyone here knows that letting patience have its perfect work is not easy.

If anything, it requires wisdom which enables us to see the value of our trials.

And, Our 3rd point is found in James 1:5-8

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a doubleminded man, unstable in all his ways."

James says if we lack wisdom; ask for it from God because He has promised to give it generously. And please don’t think that God is going to rebuke us for making such a request, even Solomon's request for wisdom was well-pleasing to God as you can read in 1st Kings 3:7-12.

But what exactly is this "wisdom"?

Because we need to be careful to distinguish "wisdom" from "knowledge."

Knowledge involves information, facts, etc, whereas, wisdom is the ability or insight to properly use those facts quickly and in the right way. Knowledge comes only through His Word and we need to carefully study it if we want to know the Will of God.

However, the wisdom to properly use His Word can be received through prayer.

A proper prayer is a prayer asked in faith and with no doubt, otherwise, the prayer will not be answered by God.

And this, according to James is the way that we can turn ‘our tears of despair into tears of joy.’ It’s having the knowledge and viewpoint that difficulties can accomplish a lot of good for a Christian.

It’s being patient whilst enduring those difficulties to accomplish its work.

And as we go through difficult times, it’s using the wisdom God gives us in answer to prayer to help us put it all together.

And when we finally understand these things, it’s then that even trials can be seen as a source of joy for the Christian.

Solomon writes in Proverbs 30:7-9 “I ask you, God, to let me have two things before I die: keep me from lying, and let me be neither rich nor poor. So, give me only as much food as I need. If I have more, I might say that I do not need you. But if I am poor, I might steal and bring disgrace on my God”.

Solomon tells us that when we are poor we may be tempted to curse God.

Which is exactly what Job's wife wanted her husband to do, when they had lost everything Job 2:9 “His wife said to him, "You are still as faithful as ever, aren't you? Why don't you curse God and die?"

And the problem with being wealthy is that we may be tempted to forget God.

In Deuteronomy 8:10-14 before God gave the Israelites the Promised Land He warned Israel that they might forget God because of their wealth.

And what happened?

Hosea 13:5-6 “I took care of you in a dry, desert land. But when you entered the good land, you became full and satisfied, and then you grew proud and forgot me.”

So, here in James he’s going to share with us reasons to be joyous

whether we’re poor or rich.

James 1:9 “Those Christians who are poor must be glad when God lifts them up”. James says if we are "poor", then we can rejoice that we have been "lifted up."

Then in James 2:5 he says “Listen, my dear friends! God chose the poor people of this world to be rich in faith and to possess the kingdom which he promised to those who love him.”

And so what James is telling us here is that even if you are poor, you can still be "spiritually rich" and on an equal par with all other Christians.

Revelation 2:8-9 "To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: "This is the message from the one who is the first and the last, who died and lived again. I know your troubles; I know that you are poor---but really you are rich! I know the evil things said against you by those who claim to be Jews but are not; they are a group that belongs to Satan!” Now not only can the poor rejoice because God has lifted them up but if you are "rich", then you too can rejoice because you have been "humbled."

Now how does God humble the rich?

James 1:10-11 tells us, “And the rich Christians must be glad when God brings them down. For the rich will pass awaylike the flower of a wild plant. The sun rises with its blazing heat and burns the plant; its flower falls off, and its beauty is destroyed.

In the same way the rich will be destroyed while they go about their business.”

In other words, the riches which the wealthy have are only temporary.

1st Timothy 6:17 “Tell those who are rich in the present world not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, let them place their confidence in God, who lavishly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

Now not only are riches temporary, but they are also unable to redeem our souls.

Psalm 49:6-9 “By evil people who trust in their riches and boast of their great wealth. We can never redeem ourselves; we cannot pay God the price for our lives, because the payment for a human life is too great. What we could pay would never be enough to keep us from the grave, to let us live forever.”

I don’t care how rich you are, you cannot buy your way into heaven.

May our God bless us all as we allow Him to turn ‘our tears of despair into tears of joy.’

Let me leave you with the inspired words of a man who knew exactly what we’re talking about today.

Paul wrote in Philippians 4:11-13

“I am not saying this because I am in any need, for I have learned to be content in whatever situation I am in. I know how to be humble, and I know how to prosper. In each and every situation I have learned the secret of being full and of going hungry, of having too much and of having too little. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Nevertheless, it was kind of you to share my troubles.”

INVITATION

The Need to Run the Race

Hebrews 12:1-3 and Psalms 5:1-12

“If you see me running, you better run too

because that would mean that something is chasing me.”

“I run every day for 30 minutes, if I miss a day

I add 30 minutes to the next day.

This has truly been a game changer,

tomorrow I’m supposed to run for 3 weeks.”

“If you’re on the treadmill next to me,

the answer is yes, we are racing.”

A few years ago, a young woman named Lois signed up for her first marathon. She trained hard, but halfway through the race, everything started to fall apart.

Her legs cramped. Her breathing tightened.

Her confidence evaporated. She slowed to a walk and eventually stopped altogether.

She stood on the side of the road, hands on her knees, ready to quit.

Then something unexpected happened.

From behind her came an older runner — gray hair, steady stride, clearly someone who had run many races before. He slowed down, looked at her, and said, “Don’t stop here.

You’ve come too far. Run with me.”

She tried to explain how tired she was, how much pain she felt, how she didn’t think she could finish.

The man just smiled and said, “Pain means you’re still in the race.

Keep your eyes on the finish line. I’ll stay with you.”

So, she started running again — slowly at first, then stronger. Every time she wanted to quit, the man reminded her, “Look ahead. Don’t stare at your feet.

Don’t stare at your pain. Look at where you’re going.”

When they finally crossed the finish line, Lois turned to thank him… but he was gone.

Lost in the crowd. She never saw him again.

But she never forgot what he said:

“Don’t stop here. Keep your eyes on the finish line.”

This Illustrates Hebrews 12:1–3

As some of you know, the apostle Paul often compared the Christian life to athletic events, and he is doing so in this passage.

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking 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 has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

• “We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.” Lois wasn’t running alone. Someone who had run the race before came alongside her. In the same way, the heroes of faith — and the faithful people in our own lives — cheer us on by their example.
• “Let us throw off everything that hinders.” Her pain, discouragement, and self‑doubt were the weights slowing her down. We carry our own: guilt, fear, distraction, sin.
• “Let us run with endurance.” Endurance isn’t glamorous. It’s choosing not to quit when quitting feels easier.
• “Fixing our eyes on Jesus.” Just as Lois had to lift her eyes from her pain to the finish line, we lift our eyes to Christ — the one who endured the cross and now stands at the finish, calling us forward.

I like to hear stories about people who won't give up.

Quitters aren't much of an inspiration, but people who stay with a commitment even though the going gets tough are a source of inspiration to us all.

Do you remember the man who came to Jesus and said, "I'll follow you wherever you go"? Jesus told him, "Before you make that kind of commitment, you need to realize that foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

"In other words, if you follow me, realize that there will be difficulties.

There will be times when you will not know where you'll sleep, or where your next meal is coming from. There will be difficult and discouraging times.

But after you realize that, and then put your hands to the plow," He said, "don't look back."

When people start the Christian life, and then quit when the going gets tough, they can become an object of ridicule to some, and a source of discouragement to others. That's the reason Hebrews 12:1-3 is so important.

In this passage Paul is not comparing the Christian life to a wind sprint, but to a marathon.

In a wind sprint you run as fast as you can for a short distance, and speed is the critical factor. But in a marathon, endurance is the critical factor, and the concern is that over the long run the runner will not “grow weary and lose heart.”

The Apostle Paul was faithful. In his last letter to Timothy, (2nd Timothy 4:7-8), he wrote,

 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

Finishing the race is critically important to all of us who would be followers of Jesus.

And I believe that this morning’s text in Hebrews 12 contains at least 3 pieces of advice that will help each of us faithfully run the race that is before us.

The first piece of advice is to remember that you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, and that you can be inspired by those who have gone before.

Notice that chapter 12 begins with the word "Therefore." That connects it with the previous chapter. And in chapter 11 the writer of Hebrews gives a long list of people who have been found faithful.

1.    For instance, in vs. 7 he mentions Noah. We can hear Noah whispering in our ear, "How long do you say you've been waiting? It took me 100 years to build the ark, and it was never easy. I tried to warn the people, but no one would listen. Yet I kept on building, and when the floods came the ark was the vehicle of our salvation. You need to keep on, keeping on, also."

2.    Next, in vs. 8, is Abraham. Abraham, called from his home in Ur to a place where God would lead him; Abraham, who in his old age was told that his wife, Sara, would bear a son; Abraham, who was told to take this precious son and offer him as a sacrifice. It wasn’t easy, but Abraham passed every test!

So, when you become discouraged, here is Abraham whispering in your ear. "Listen," "if you obey God, the world will think you’re crazy because God's ways are not their ways. But listen carefully and be true to His will."

3.    Then go to vs. 22 and the story of Joseph. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. In Egypt he was accused of crimes he didn't commit and thrown into prison. He was about as low as a person can get. Yet he remained faithful to God. Then everything changes, and suddenly he is very powerful, Prime Minister of Egypt. He has control of money and grain and food and people. And yet, when he is at the top, he is still faithful to God.

So, listen to Joseph say, "Look, it doesn't take much to be faithful when things are going your way. But when you are at the bottom, and everything seems to be falling apart, make sure that you're still faithful."

4.    The list goes on. There's Moses and Samson and Samuel and David and more besides. There is a great cloud of witnesses to cheer us on. They whisper in our ear when we become discouraged, saying, "Don't lose heart! Don't give up. Don't quit, whatever you do."

Now when we get discouraged, we need to think of the great saints in Scripture, and of others who have inspired us.

WE sing Song #222, FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.

When we are discouraged, we hear their voices saying, "If we can do it, then you can do it too." Be inspired by those who have gone before and realize that at the same time there will be others watching you. You will be their inspiration, their example, and their guide.

The second piece of advice from Hebrews is to prepare for the struggles you will face.

“... 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,”

As I read the words, “…the sin that so easily entangles…” I think of the old Tarzan movies.

There was usually a scene where Tarzan, with his knife between his teeth, jumped into the water and swam to rescue Jane or boy or whoever was in the water. Then the music would intensify and you knew that at some point something bad was going to grab him.

Oftentimes it was an enormous octopus. At first you could just see its eye. Then a tentacle would suddenly reach out and wrap around his ankle. But that’s no problem. Tarzan can get loose from that. But then here comes a second tentacle. It would grab the other ankle. Then another tentacle and another one, and soon he is all entangled and can’t get loose. Is this the end of Tarzan?

Oh no. Remember that knife in his teeth. Somehow, he is able to grab it and start cutting off the tentacles, and soon an inky cloud comes out of the octopus. And Tarzan is free!

The writer of Hebrews says that sin is just like those tentacles, and that we must throw off “...the sin that so easily entangles, and …run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Now I'm obviously not a marathon runner. But marathon runners tell us that there are two critical times in the race. The first one is at the beginning. When you begin to run you feel so good, and the temptation is to run too fast too soon, depending upon your own strength and skill to pull you through.

The second critical time in a marathon is at the halfway point.

You suddenly realize that you still have as far to go as what you've already run, and your strength is giving out. Runners call it "hitting the wall." You've come to the end of your endurance and you're not sure if you can put one foot in front of the other anymore.

To keep that from happening in your life remember this promise,

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

If you’ll trust Him, He will be the source of all you need to finish your race.

AND, the final piece of advice is this, Fix your eyes on Jesus.

Listen again to a part of vs’s 2 and 3, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith… Consider Him… so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Jesus was opposed. Jesus was persecuted. And yet He stayed the course. He ran the race. He paid the price for our sins. Every Christian needs to hear this because it's so easy to quit. It's so easy to say, "I don't have to do this anymore."

But the writer of Hebrews says, “Fix your eyes on Jesus. He's the author and the perfecter of our faith,” and one day each one of us will stand before Him as our judge.

Romans 3:23 says, “There is no difference, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

If you ever take the tour in historic Williamsburg, VA they will explain to you why, even to this day, we hold up our hand and swear that we will “tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God" whenever we give testimony in court.

The story they tell goes all the way back to medieval times. When someone was being tried for a crime and the evidence seemed overwhelmingly against him, there was a way out. He could stand up and say, "I plead the benefit of clergy."

Now when he pled "the benefit of clergy" everyone was shocked because that was the same as an admission of guilt. But it was the accused’s last hope, his last chance.

So, a clergyman would come in with a selected passage of Scripture, usually from Psalms 51, which tells of the confession of David for all the sins that he had committed.

He would hand it to the accused and say, "Here, read this." It was kind of a forerunner of the lie detector test.

The law said that if the accused could read it without stammering or stuttering, he would be set free even though the evidence against him was overwhelming.

But if he stumbled or stammered just one time, he was judged guilty.

Usually, a guilty person could not read that passage without stammering or stuttering. So, they were found guilty.

But when someone read it perfectly and was set free, they branded the palm of his hand with the brand of the cross.

You see, you could only claim the benefit of clergy one time.

So, whenever anyone testified in court he would have to hold up his hand so that all could see if the brand of the cross was there.

IN CONCLUSION: One day, folks, we're all going to stand before the judge of the universe, as guilty as we can be.

The evidence is overwhelmingly against us.

Satan, the accuser, will be there to accuse us of all the sins we have committed.

Our only hope is to claim the benefit of the cross.

THAT IS WHY the writer of Hebrews says, “Fix your eyes upon Jesus because the only hope we have is our hope in Him.”

So, run the race with patience. Don't lose heart. Don't become discouraged. Don't quit.

Keep on running the race that has been set before us.

This morning if you're not a Christian, we invite you to come to Jesus and accept His mercy, His love, His grace, and His sacrifice on the cross.

We offer you the opportunity to begin a whole new life in Him. Will you come as we stand and as we sing together?

Be Healed, Be Holy

John 5:1-14

Introduction: Good morning church. We have concluded our look at chapter four. Now we are continuing in the fifth chapter of John’s gospel which expresses proofs and evidence that Jesus is God. As you recall the purpose of John’s gospel was stated in John 20:31, “… That you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name..”

Chapter 5 contains a concentrated effort of the Apostle John, going through a variety of proofs that Jesus is God. As we study through this chapter, we want to carefully analyze how John shows this to us. John sets things up with the first fourteen verses in the chapter.

The context of John 5:1-14 is the sign of the miraculous healing of a paralyzed man at the Pool of Bethesda. The Jews had a tradition that said an angel stirs the water at the pool, and the first person to enter the water after it's stirred, is healed.

I would like you to hold in mind this question and your response to it. What is the worst thing that can happen to you? I want you to just hold that in your mind as we move through this story. It's a point that Jesus is going to use with this man, and it is important for our consideration as we recognize who Jesus is.

I.     The Sign – Read with me starting in verse 1, “1, After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. 5. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7. The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” 8. Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” 9. And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.” [ESV] (for verse 4 see other versions)

A.   The narrative begins with revealing that this is one of the three feasts of the Law of Moses which compel the people to come to Jerusalem. Jesus came to Jerusalem, and He decided to go to a place that He does not have to go. It is not required that you walk through this gate as you come into the city. The Sheep Gate was built by the high priest as mentioned in Nehemiah 3:1, “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate…” It was through this gate that the sheep were brought to the Temple for sacrifice.

1.    John 5:2-3 tell us He enters an area where there are five roofed colonnades by a pool of water. We are presented with a sad scene in verse 3. Here are a multitude of invalids hoping for healing if they can get into the pool when the water is disturbed. Jesus is going out of His way to walk through this area where these disabled people are lying all around.

2.    It is interesting to me that in this atmosphere, among all of people that are there, Jesus selects one to talk to. As He passes through all the people lying there, we are told He speaks to one person. Verse 5, “One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.”

3.    I can picture clearly the helplessness of all these people, the multitude of disabled people lying there. There is nothing glorious about this place. You can imagine the kind of atmosphere that would exist here. Jesus comes to this man and asks a very simple, and perhaps in our minds, obvious question. Verse 6, “Do you want to be healed?”

B.   Years and years this man had been an invalid. Nothing has made him well and so hopelessness has set in. When Jesus asks him if he wants to be made well, listen to his answer: “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” These are words of hopelessness. Yes, he desired to be healed but he had desired this for so long that it seemed like there was no chance of it ever happening. To me it sounds like “of course, but it’s not going to happen”.

1.    That's what makes the next words so shocking and so powerful. Jesus says in verse 8, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” Then in verse 9, “And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.”

2.    What a picture is given here! There's no slow and painful physical therapy—no slow, and gradual improvement. Immediately he grabs his mat. This is a sign of victory. He's going to leave this area of all the paralyzed and the lame and the blind and the disabled. He is now able to grab his mat, carry it and walk through the city of Jerusalem.

3.    People would see him and some at least would recognize “there's somebody who has been lame and unable to walk for 38 years, yet he is walking.” It demonstrated his healing to all who saw him. The end of verse 9 records a forceful statement: It was the Sabbath!

II.    The Conflict - Verse 10 reveals a conflict. “So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”” The Jewish leaders see this man carrying his mat on this Sabbath day of rest and they reproach him. “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.”

A.   I suspect this is one reason we are told in the first verse that this was a feast day. When you read the Law of Moses, you'll find that these feast days had inherent within them, holy days, Sabbath days, days of rest. In Leviticus 23 starting in verse 2 you find “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.” These feast days often prescribed various days as holy days, and hence were considered Sabbaths because of the holy day (cf. Leviticus 23). It’s a feast day and therefore it is a Sabbath rest and not necessarily the seventh day of the week.

1.    The healed man responds in verse 11, “But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’”” He says, I'm just doing what I was told to do. I've been healed and the one who healed me told me to do this.

2.    Listen to what happens next. “They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?””

3.    Think about this for a minute. Rather than rejoice with this man who has been disabled for 38 long years, they want to know who told him to break the Sabbath by carrying his bed! They do not see the sign that the great healer of the people has come. They only see their traditions being broken.

B.   Verse 13, “Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place.” The healed man does not know who healed him. He did not know that the person he had been talking to was Jesus, and Jesus is not there at this moment. He has withdrawn and the crowds were forming around this man who had been healed.

C.   We are at verse 14. Jesus finds this healed man in the temple. There is the man, most likely in the temple glorifying God for the healing he has received and participating in the feast day that he had not been able to enjoy previously. “Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.”” The first thing that strikes me, is Jesus indicates in this shocking statement, that something worse can happen!

III.  Something worse can happen - Remember the question I asked you to hold in mind as we read? “What is the worst thing that could happen to you?” Stop for a moment and consider that. Picture the helplessness and hopelessness of this invalid. For 38 years he has been unable to walk and for a long time was left in this covered porch area in Jerusalem. Jesus says there is something worse that could happen to you.

A.   We have a cliché of sorts that we say to one another when we are suffering. These are probably the least comforting words you can say to somebody at that moment. It is not a cliché we really like to hear, but based on Jesus’ words, the cliché is quite true. “It could always be worse.” Something worse could happen to us. As terrible as our suffering can be and as difficult as it can be to deal with the challenges we have in life, there is something worse… and that is eternal punishment.

1.    For all that we may go through in this life, all the challenges that we face, all the suffering we may endure, and for all the times that we may question God and say I don't understand the injustice that I am dealing with or the great amount of pain I am enduring… there is the reminder that there is something far worse.

2.    No matter how difficult things are, no matter how fierce the suffering is, and no matter how challenging our trials are—it is worth remaining faithful to God through those difficulties because there is something worse. It is worth maintaining our integrity as Mark taught last week.

B.   It is worth maintaining our hope in God because if we do not, there is something far worse that awaits at the end, and that is the worst thing that can happen to us.

C.   When I say there is something worse, I don’t mean, yes, things in this life could be worse, like “I could get hit by a bus”, which is the way we often use this cliché. There are horrible things in this world. There are horrible things that we experience. Things that will break us, crush our spirit, and seem to destroy us. There is something far, far worse than anything we can possibly experience in our bodies on this earth… Eternal punishment.

IV.  Healed for holiness – I wondered, why the invalid was told to sin no more. He is to sin no more because he had been healed!

A.   Let us have a visit with Isaiah for a bit, Isaiah 6. In this chapter Isaiah has a vision. In this vision Isaiah is in the throne room of God and sees the Lord sitting upon a throne with seraphim round about. Isaiah says in verse 5, “… “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”” We see Isaiah expressing his feeling of total ruin, of being undone before the holiness of God. Then we see one of the spiritual beings, the seraphim, fly to Isaiah with a coal from the altar, touching his lips, making him clean.

1.    Next in verse 8 we see the Lord asking “Whom shall I send?” and that caused Isaiah, now healed from his sins, to volunteer for service. Immediately he says before God, “Here am I, send me”.

2.    When we have been cleansed of our sins, forgiven, and see the gracious God we serve, it should move our hearts and compel us to service. It compels us to want to look to God and ask what can I do?

B.   You have been healed for a purpose. You have not been healed to leave and go your own way. You have been healed to be holy. You have been healed to glorify God. You have been healed to go and sin no more. The life of holiness begins with seeing that we have been healed. This is the radical rebirth John has talked about.

C.   Jesus has come to the world of spiritually disabled people and has healed you from your sins. In Isaiah we see the holiness of the Lord from the perspective of Isaiah. The seraphim are crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is filled with His glory.” God’s holiness and our healing are to lead us to service. Today we add to that thought, our healing will also lead us to changed living. We will seek pure lives because of the healing we have experienced. His healing is the catalyst for our turning our lives to Jesus. “See, you are well! Sin no more.”

V.   The Meaning - Let’s step back as we conclude and consider why John chooses this miracle and what the sign is which we are supposed to learn. Why did Jesus pick this man among the multitude of disabled people? The text tells us that there was one man who had been in this condition for 38 years.

A.   In John 3, we spent some time in verse 16, with the famous words that we all know so well, that God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Two verses before there was the connection that just as Moses put the bronze serpent on the pole, so also the son of man must be lifted up. John 3 paints with the wilderness wandering as a backdrop.

B.   Chapters 5-6 of John are set to that historical backdrop. Chapter 6 is about the bread from heaven that God gave in the wilderness. The time marker is the Passover, when God set the people free from Egyptian slavery and took them through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land.

1.    Chapter 5 began by noting that this was a feast of the Jews. We do not know which one, but all of them centered upon being slaves in Egypt and the freedom God gave to them as they passed through the waters of the Red Sea and walked in the wilderness on the way.

2.    In chapter 3 Jesus likened Himself as the bronze serpent on the pole which was erected in the wilderness because of the people’s sins, that all who look to Him would be healed.

3.    Jesus selects a man who has been an invalid for 38 years. He is utterly helpless and utterly hopeless. Thirty-Eight does not sound significant but in terms of the wilderness wanderings, it is extraordinarily symbolic.

C.   Turn with me now to Deuteronomy 2:14-15. Here Moses is talking about their journey, “And the time from our leaving Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.” [ESV]

1.    You will remember the 12 that went out to reconnoiter the land. Ten of them reported “We can’t take the land”. The people of Israel listen to the 10. They rebel and try to stone Moses and Aaron. God intervenes and says, because you won't believe in Me and you will not trust Me, here's what's going to happen to you. You will all die in this wilderness.

2.    We often hear of the 40 year wandering, but the 38 years spotlight a specific sub-interval between two landmarks (Kadesh-barnea and crossing the Brook Zered), while the full 40 years speak of the entire span of wandering.

3.    The 38 years is the time frame of the death of the Israelite people, as God shows His displeasure with extremely wicked men by cutting their lives short. The hand of the Lord was against them for their sins. That is why they were in the wilderness. A journey that should have been relatively short turns into a 38 year death march because the people sinned. They are helpless and hopeless. There is no one who can help. There is no one to deliver these sinful people from their condition. They were completely lost because of their sins, their failure to obey God, and because of that they will not enter the Promised Land.

D.   You probably notice John keeps pointing out water in his gospel. Every time he points it out, he's showing how that has been ineffectual water compared to the living water that Jesus offers. We saw it with John's baptism. Jesus is greater than that and brings something greater.

1.    We saw it with the water turned to wine. Remember those Jewish ritual stone jars as Jesus takes that purification water and changes it. They're no longer going to be purifying themselves.

2.    We saw with Jacob's well, remember what the woman asked? Are you greater than our father, Jacob? The well provided water that filled a reoccurring need, but the living water Jesus offered filled an eternal need.

3.    Though this man wants to be healed, he simply cannot be healed. The pool water at Bethesda, like all the water seen in this gospel so far, is ineffectual, leaving the man paralyzed until Jesus comes to heal him. Jesus’ living waters of John 4 replace the water of John’s baptism (1:31-33), the ritual purifying waters (2:6), Jacob’s well (4:14), and now this popular healing pool.

E.   Here is our Lord saying, I'm greater than these things. This is who you are. You are helpless and you are hopeless before your Lord. You don't have any way out. This is your spiritual condition. The parallel to Exodus is so powerful because Moses leads the people to take them to the Promised Land. Moses failed. The people sin, Moses sins, Moses does not enter. That generation does not enter. There is failure.

1.    There is longing and looking for one who will not fail. Someone who will come and take the people who are helpless and hopeless and give them what they need. Here is Jesus coming and giving that hope. He can give that healing. He selects a person whose time there fits so well with the imagery of the nation itself.

2.    The people, ever since the very beginning, have been helpless and hopeless before God. Lost, in rebellion and in need of somebody to come and heal. The history of the Old Testament reveals that one never came. That's why the New Testament repeatedly points to the fact that the Law of Moses shows you your sins. It does not show you your way out. It only shows you your problem. It does not give you the solution. It only reveals your sin, and shows how when you stand before God, you will come up short.

3.    John tells us, God in the flesh has come. To use the words of John 1, God with us. God has now taken on flesh. God is now walking the streets of Jerusalem and He is going about bringing healing to the nation… healing to the people. He is the only one who can bring life to those in sin. Or to put it another way to what we saw in verse 14, He is the only one that can make sure that something worse does not happen to each of us. Hope and healing now walk into the scene and here is somebody who experiences it and is now called to live a life of holiness as he praises God in the flesh.

CONCLUSION: Where have you been turning for healing? We are in a world where people try to find hope and healing in all kinds of avenues and places... from books and television to vices and addictions, always trying to fill the void, always trying to find hope, always trying to deal with our need to be healed.

The Bible shows us that the yearning and waiting, the hopelessness and the helplessness, have all been pointing to one person. There is one person who can deal with all the hurt, with all the sins, and can give you what you are longing for. Jesus has come, and He is able to take away sins. He can say to you, go and sin no more so that nothing worse happens to you. He can remove the wrath. He can remove the punishment if you come to Him for healing.

If you will come and have your sins taken away… and then you follow Him and serve Him with all your heart, you will experience the radical life transformation that John has been painting in this gospel. You can be born again. You can be raised to new life, and there will be a whole new you in the kingdom of God. That is the calling that John wants us to hear and he wants us to see that the answer to that calling is only found in Jesus. Jesus is where our hope lies.

If you have not accepted Jesus and believed in Him and submitted your life to Him, that is your starting point—believe that Jesus is the son of God who came to this world and died for your sins. Be immersed in water to have your sins washed away to enter a relationship with Him so that you can know that you have eternal life.

If you've already begun there, don't stop. Do not think you can now put your life in neutral and you're good to go. Deepen the relationship. See Him as the treasure.

Recognize Him and honor Him for who He is. We invite you to come while we stand and while we sing.

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Reference Sermon: Brent Kercheville

NOTES:

Coffman’s commentary on verse 4: “Waiting for the moving of the water: for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water entered in was made whole, with whatsoever disease he was holden.

Upon what would appear to be sufficient critical grounds, these words have been removed from the English Revised Version (1885); but it is well that they have been retained in the margin, because they explain the common conviction regarding the pool which resulted in its popularity. It would be no great thing to stumble at if indeed it was part of John's Gospel. Whatever healing ever occurred there would thus have been attributed to the power of an angel of the Lord, and what would be so unreasonable about that? The healing qualities of the waters at Hot Springs, for example; are they any less of God and his angels, merely because our chemists have analyzed them? Is there not here a tracing back to their true source phenomena which men are so ready to ascribe to secondary sources? Is not all healing of God; and do not the Scriptures teach that God's angels are servants sent forth to do service for them that shall be the heirs of salvation? (Hebrews 1:14).

The spurious nature of the words here cited, however, is not to be denied. They were probably added by some scribe at a very early date to explain what was meant by the cripple's having no one to help him get into the water at the propitious moment. If there had been any virtue in the waters of the pool, it seems highly incredible that they should have been efficacious only at indeterminate intervals, only for such a short while, and, even then, only for the person who got into them first. The cripple of this narrative had surely found them without any value to himself.

NOTE 2:

The Sheep Gate was a historic gate in Jerusalem's wall, crucial for bringing sacrificial sheep into the

city for the Temple, located near the Pool of Bethesda, and symbolized by its rebuilding first by priests

as a sign of spiritual restoration, foreshadowing Jesus as the ultimate Lamb of God and "the gate" for

salvation.

Historical & Geographical Significance

Location: In the northeast section of ancient Jerusalem, near the Temple Mount.

Function: It served as the entry point for sheep and other sacrificial animals, leading them to the

Temple for worship.

Nehemiah: The first gate rebuilt by the High Priest Eliashib and fellow priests during the wall

restoration, signifying spiritual priorities. It was consecrated by the high priest, symbolizing spiritual renewal and the reestablishment of proper worship after the Babylonian exile.

Pool of Bethesda: Near the Sheep Gate was the Pool of Bethesda, where the lame man was

healed by Jesus (John 5:2).

Symbolic & Theological Significance

Sacrifice: Represents the sacrificial system and the need for atonement.

Jesus: A powerful foreshadowing of Jesus, the "Lamb of God," who takes away the world's sin

(John 1:29).

Salvation: Jesus identified Himself as "the gate for the sheep," meaning He is the only way to

salvation and abundant life (John 10:7-9). The gate is symbolic of access to God, protection, and eternal life, with Jesus as the exclusive way to salvation and safety.

Restoration: Its rebuilding first signifies that spiritual renewal and focus on God must come before

other tasks, setting the tone for all restoration.

Scripture: Romans 12:2

A lawyer is trying to call his clients. The phone rings and their little boy, in a whisper, says, "Hello." Lawyer: "Is your mommy there?" Boy: (whisper) "Yes." Lawyer: "Can I speak with her?" Boy: (whisper) "She's busy." Lawyer: "Is your daddy there?" Boy: (whisper) "Yes." Lawyer: "Can I speak with him?" Boy: (whisper) "He's busy." Lawyer: "Is there anyone else there?" Boy: (whisper) "The fire department." Lawyer: "Can I talk to one of them?" Boy: (whisper) "They're busy." Lawyer: "Is there anybody ELSE there?" Boy: (whisper) "The police department." Lawyer: "Well, can I talk to one of THEM?" Boy: (whisper) "They're busy." Lawyer: "Let me get this straight, your mother, father, the fire department AND the police department are ALL in your house, and they're ALL busy. WHAT are they doing?" Boy: (whisper) "They're looking for me."

Many in the world today think they are able to hide from God.

The ancient Chinese were So fearful of their enemies on the north that they built the Great Wall of China, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

It was so high they knew no one could climb over it, and so thick that nothing could break it down.

Then they settled back to enjoy their security.

But during the first 100 years of the wall’s existence, China was invaded 3 times.

Not once did the enemy break down the wall or climb over its top. Each time they bribed a gatekeeper and THEN marched right through the gates.

According to the historians, the Chinese were so busy relying upon the walls of stone that they forgot to teach integrity to their children.

The editor of a popular magazine, has written rather despairingly: "What is going on in North America?. . .

We have no built-in beliefs, no ethical boundaries.

`Cheat on your taxes, just don’t get caught.

Cheat on your wife, just don’t get caught.’

Our high-tech society," he writes, "has given us everything - everything but a conscience," and integrity is a mangled casualty of our times.

Is this editor right?

Have we lost all sense of decency in our nation today?

Has our conscience been so damaged that we no longer recognize what is right and wrong?

Is integrity simply an old﷓fashioned and out﷓of﷓favor virtue?

By the way, what is integrity?

Simply put, integrity is more than just telling the truth.

Integrity is doing what you said you would do.

Integrity means keeping your promises.

Integrity means that your words and your actions are the same. In other words, you practice what you preach.

As someone has said, "Integrity is the foundation stone for eternal life."

So let’s look at ourselves this morning and ask the question, "Am I living a life of integrity?"

If not, then I had better scrap my present value system, determine what is important, and change my lifestyle because my salvation depends upon it.

Remember, it was Jesus who said in Matthew 16:26, "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?"

So our first question is, "What is the source of my values?

I’m getting them from someplace.

Where am I getting them?"

Now that is a very important question, because where I get my values

determines how valuable they are.

As a nation, we’re largely being molded as to what morality is, what decency is, what integrity is by what we see on the TV set.

Listen to what it says in 1st John 2:15&16.

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. 

If anyone loves the world,

the love of the Father is not in him. 

16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh

and the desires of the eyes and pride of life[a]—

is not from the Father but is from the world.

It’s obvious, isn’t it, that the world’s value system has always remained the same.

This verse tells us that there are 3 basic world values that are constantly being conveyed to us.

The first one is pleasure.

John calls it "the lust for physical pleasure."

We are a culture majoring in pleasure.

Do you realize that the #1 industry in the U.S. is entertainment? We spend billions of dollars every year just trying to entertain ourselves.

LAST SUNDAY, on a cold snowy morning there were only a few of us that made it to the building for worship services while there was tens of thousands of people in Denver Colorado who paid 100’s of dollars each for the privilege of sitting on a snow covered seat and watching 22 guys beat each other up as they fight over an oblong ball on a frozen snow covered field.

And in the name of entertainment these spectators will be saying, "Boy, am I having fun. This is really great.

I’m freezing to death, but I’m having a wonderful time."

All in the name of entertainment!

Here’s the second world value – earthly possessions.

John calls it "the ambition to buy everything that appeals to you."

We are a culture obsessed with buying things, getting more and more things.

And we love to show off our possessions, our cars, our homes, our clothing, our jewelry.

We love to show those things off because We believe these things say that we are someone important.

AND, the third one is prestige.

John calls it "the pride that come from wealth and importance." We come up with little labels that brand us as successful people. "I’m a CEO," or "I’m an Executive Vice President.

I am someone who is really, really important."

That’s why Paul writes in Romans 12:2,

2 Do not be conformed to this world, 

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind,

that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

So we begin here. We choose for ourselves.

"Where am I going to get my values?"

I have only two basic choices.

I’m either going to get them from the Word of God or I’m going to get them from the world.

Those are the choices that I have.

Secondly, we need to determine what is important. 

Job 34:4 says, Let us choose what is right;     let us know among ourselves what is good.

I want to give each of us a homework assignment.

When we go home, get out a piece of paper and pen, and write down the 10 most important things in our life.

Prioritize them. What’s the most important?

What’s the second most important?

The third most important, and so on.

Make a list of our values in life.

Now it is important for us to do that for a couple of reasons.

1.   Most of our values we didn’t choose.

You just assimilated them. You got them from your parents. You got them from what you read, or whatever.

So, it is important for you to firm them up.

"I’m going to determine now what’s really important for me. I’m not going to let someone else decide that, but I am going to decide what’s really important for me." AND,

2.   most of us never think about what’s important in life until it is too late. As long as we are just cruising through life and everything is falling into place, we never stop and ask the tough questions.

We never really ask ourselves, "What are my values?

What’s really important to me?" until we are bankrupt.

Or until we go through a divorce. Or until a loved one dies.

Then we stop and ask, "Am I living the way I ought to?

Are the really important things the things that I consider important in my life?"

It’s often not until tragedy comes that we begin to ask those kinds of questions. So what I’m encouraging you to do, is to do that before the pain, and save yourself some pain, because the pain will come but you will be better prepared for it if you have already determined what’s really important to you.

So make a list.

"Here are the things that are really important to me."

Now how are you going to decide what is really important and what is not? The key here is perspective.

Now by perspective I mean, look at it and ask, "How long is this going to last?"

If it is going to last for a long time, if it is going to last for eternity, then it is really important.

If it is going to last 30 years it is kind of important.

If it is going to last 10 years it’s kind of important, but not as important as 30 years.

And if it is only going to last for a short time, then it is not very important at all.

Now when you use that standard and compare it to what the world says are values, then notice what you come up with.

Here are the 3 valuable things according to the world:

The first is pleasure.

Listen to Hebrews 11:25. 25 choosing rather

to be mistreated with the people of God

than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

Did you know sin was fun? I thought so.

Yes, sin is fun, and if it weren’t fun, no one would do it. Right?

1. The pleasures of sin are real. They’re described in Scripture.

But how long does it last?

A short time. Therefore it is not very valuable.

The pleasures of sin last a short time.

The pain of sin lasts a long, long time.

So when you consider the first worldly value, it doesn’t last very long.

2. What about possessions?

Paul writes in 1st Timothy 6:7,

7 for we brought nothing into the world,

and[a] we cannot take anything out of the world.

Have you ever seen a hearse pulling a U﷓Haul?

And when a millionaire dies and someone asks, "How much did he leave?"

The answer is always, "He left it all."

He didn’t take anything with him because what you accumulate in life is only going to be yours for the span of your lifetime.

You didn’t bring anything into this world.

You’re not going to take anything out of this world.

So how valuable are possessions?

Not very valuable, because they’re not going to last very long.

3. What about prestige?

In Mark 10:31, Jesus tells us that many people who seem to be important now will be the least important then. When? In eternity.

The King James version says, "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first."

In other words, there is going to be a reversal in order.

People who are in front of the line who really appear to be important now,

are not going to be very important at all in eternity.

And the people who don’t appear to be very important at all, are going to be extremely important in heaven.

So how important is power, position, and prestige in this life?

Not very important because they are not going to last very long. In fact, 1st John 2:17 sums it up saying,

17 And the world is passing away

along with its desires,

but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

WITH THIS IN MIND

I’m going to look at the list of 10 things that I consider important and then ask myself, "Does my life match up?

Am I living in accordance with my God﷓given values?"

Now that is an extremely important question, and we need to be honest with ourselves here because the Gallup poll says,

"The #1 cause of stress in our lives today is not the lack of money, and it’s not the breaking down of relationships, it’s the inconsistencies in life.

It’s saying one thing and doing something else.

It’s constant conflict inside."

Ephesians 4:17 tells us that you must no longer walk

as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds.

That’s no life for you...Get rid of it.

Then take on an entirely new way of life – a God fashioned life renewed from the inside and working out into your conduct as God reproduces His character in you."

We’re talking about a new life here.

A life centered around Christ.

But many of us find it hard in our extremely busy lives to also have time for what God wants us to do.

So, Paul wrote in Philippians 4:13,

"I can do everything God asks me to do

with the help of Christ who gives me strength and power." With the strength and power of Jesus Christ, you can.

Paul writes to Timothy in 1st Timothy 4:16 and tells him

to "keep a close watch on all that you do and think.

Stay true to what is right and God will bless you,

and He will use you to help other people."

I will close this morning with this story:

While on summer vacation at his grandparent’s farm, Sammy accidentally shoots his grandma’s pet duck with his slingshot. In a panic, he hid it behind a pile of wood. Unknown to him, his sister Marie saw the entire thing.

The next day, Grandma called on Marie to wash the dishes. However, instead of coming to help, Marie said, “Sammy said he wanted to help in the kitchen today, Grandma.” Sammy was surprised because he said no such thing.

Marie walked up to him and whispered, “Remember the duck?”

It was then that he realized Marie saw what had happened.

This went on for several days until one day, Sammy couldn’t take it anymore!

He went to Grandma and told her about everything that had happened.

Instead of scolding him, his Grandma hugged him and said, “I knew all along. I was waiting to see how long before you tell me so Marie will stop blackmailing you.”

The Moral:

Be honest about your mistakes.

There will be others who will have no qualms about using this information against you.

The more mistakes you make in secret, the heavier the burden on your conscience will be, and the easier it will for other people to take advantage of you. 

Praying

Philippians 1:1-11

This MORNING I would like for us to go back nearly 2,000 years to the city of Rome. We find ourselves in a small city which has a grassroots community center started by a former volunteer who is now imprisoned for nonviolent activism.

While the founder is behind bars, the center doesn’t close. Neighbors bring meals, a local church covers rent, and a group of young volunteers runs after‑school programs.

Every month the center posts a short video: the founder, through letters and recorded messages, thanks the supporters, celebrates small victories, and prays for the volunteers.

The supporters respond with more donations, prayer chains, and visits. Months later the center launches a new outreach program that reaches more families than before the founder’s arrest.

It is an exciting time to be in Rome, a metropolis of gladiators, chariots, and palaces. But we’re not going to stop at the coliseum or the emperor’s palace. Instead, we’re going to look into a drab little room.

Inside we see a man seated on the floor. He’s an older fellow, shoulders stooped and his head balding. Chains are on his hands and feet that are also attached by a longer chain to a Roman guard.

It is the apostle Paul. The apostle who has traveled all over the world of his day. The apostle whose message has liberated people in almost every port.

The apostle who was bound only by the will of God is now bound by chains, restricted by walls, accused by enemies, and scheduled for trial in the court of the cruelest of emperors, Nero.

And Paul is writing a letter.

I am sure it has to be a complaint letter to God, a list of grievances. No doubt he is writing the New Testament version of the book of Lamentations.

You see, he has every reason to be bitter, to complain.

When we face situations of what we feel are wrong doings like this we often have the urge to WRITE A LETTER to EXPRESS our feelings of anger and how we were treated UNFAIRLY!!!

But PAUL doesn’t. Instead, he is writing a letter that now, 2,000 years later, is known as the “letter of joy.”

And that is the letter we are going to be looking at this morning.

Bobby Jones, a champion golfer, once said,

"Have you ever noticed how much golfers practice?

Smart businessmen have been quick to take advantage of that, developing public driving ranges where we can practice driving the ball, and putting greens where we can practice our putting."

"But why hasn’t someone developed public sand traps?

Sand traps are an inevitable part of the game of golf, and every golfer ought to practice ahead of time how to get out of trouble." I think that’s good advice for all of us.

Because, as we talk about being thankful for the blessings that come our way, we must admit that problems and troubles also come our way. It was Norman Vincent Peale who said, "Problems are a part of life.

All of us are going to have problems right up to the moment we die.

So it only makes sense, if we’re going to find ourselves in sand traps, that we learn how to get out of them.

And the letter to the Philippians, written by the apostle Paul, can help us do just that.

He writes this letter while imprisoned in Rome under what we would call "house arrest."

Today, courts enforce "house arrest" by attaching electronic monitors on the ankle of prisoners.

But back then, they simply chained the prisoner to Roman soldiers 24 hours a day.

Now that was usually better than being in a dungeon, but Roman soldiers could be cruel, and "house arrest" was not something to desire. Yet, Paul’s letter is filled with thanksgiving. And in it, Paul writes, “I always pray with joy..." (Philippians 1:3)

So let’s look at the first 11 verses of Philippians 1, and see what they teach us about praying with joy. Paul begins by saying that prayer should be a first response rather than a last resort.

Listen to vs. 3, "I thank my God every time I remember you.

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy..."

Then, in chapter 4, vs. 6, he says,

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything,

by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God."

What is Paul saying?

He is saying that whenever anything happens to him, whether positive or negative, he prays.

That’s his first response.

He prays, "God, thank you for the blessings that you give me. God, I even thank you for the troubles that come my way.

Now teach me the lessons that I need to learn from them."

Paul always started with prayer. But for many of us, we wait until we’re knee deep in the sand traps of life, and there seems to be no way out of our problems.

Then we call upon God and cry, "Help me. I’m in trouble."

We turn to prayer almost as a last resort.

Years ago a US AIR airplane crashed near Pittsburgh.

The cause of that crash was a mystery, because the plane just seemed to fall from the sky.

So it was with great interest that the investigators listened to the information recorded in the plane’s black box. CNN played a portion of that recording on the air, revealing that there were just a few seconds from the time the pilot detected trouble until the plane crashed.

The black box revealed sounds from the cockpit:

First, there was an "Oh!" followed by some profanity and a string of curse words, then came the crash, and THEN SILENCE.

If you suddenly discovered that you had just a few seconds left to live how would you react?

Would you curse or would you pray?

I’ll can tell you what you would do.

You would respond instinctively.

You wouldn’t have time to think about it.

You would just respond in the way that is most natural for you to respond. Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

So what kind of habits have you developed in your life? A story is told of a soldier who was doing guard duty on the front line in WW1. After being relieved of duty, as a Christian, he wanted to pray, to thank God for protecting him, and to ask for His continued protection.

But the enemy lines were very close, and he couldn’t go far, so he just walked a little ways away from where he had been standing guard, knelt and began to pray aloud.

The sentry who replaced him heard his voice and thought he was speaking to someone in the enemy lines.

So, he reported him.

The officer in charge confronted him and told him, "You’ve been accused of revealing secrets to the enemy.

How do you respond?" The soldier said, "It’s not true. I wasn’t doing that."

The officer replied, "Then what were you doing when you were out there near the enemy and talking?"

He soldier immediately responded, "I was praying." "You were praying out loud?" "Yes, I was." The officer said, "Show me. Pray right now." So the young man knelt and prayed.

And when he finished the officer dismissed the charges. "Because," he said, "nobody can pray like that unless he has been practicing."

So what do you do naturally when troubles come your way?

Paul says that prayer should be a first response and not a last resort. Secondly, prayer should be offered in an attitude of gratitude rather than as a complaint.

Nothing inhibits prayer more than a grumbling, complaining spirit. In vs. 3. Paul writes, "I thank my God every time I remember you."

Now that’s an amazing statement because if you go back and read in the Book of Acts about Paul’s first visit to Philippi you’ll find that some very bad things happened to him while he was there.

He could have said, "I remember Philippi and that demon possessed slave girl who followed us around and harassed us.

I remember how they arrested us, and beat us, and put us into chains, and then tossed us deep into that dark and dirty dungeon.

Oh yes, I remember the terrible experiences we had in Philippi."

"But no," he said, "I remember Lydia and how she and all her household became Christians.

I remember casting a demon out of a slave girl and seeing her set free.

I remember the Philippian jailer and his family, and all those other people who are now followers of Jesus.

And when I remember, I thank my God for you."

Like Paul, we have a choice.

BOTH Positive and negative things happen every day.

You can focus on the negative and become an unhappy grumbler if you want. But if you’ll focus on gratitude, wonderful things can happen in your life.

Now, Listen to vs. 6, "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

God has a plan for your life, and for mine.

There’s a task that He has called us to do, a place that He wants us to fill. And He’s not finished with us yet. Paul had developed some deep relationships with the people in Philippi.

When we read his letter we sense that Paul really loves them.

In vs. 5 he thanks them for their "partnership in the gospel from the first day until now."

And in vs’s 7 and 8 he says,

"It is right for me to feel this way about all of you,

since I have you in my heart;

for whether I am in chains or

defending and confirming the gospel,

all of you share in God’s grace with me. “God can testify how I long for all of you

with the affection of Christ Jesus."

In other words, "I love you as Jesus loves you." When you’re in trouble it is important to have friends who will stand beside you, friends who will be there through thick and thin, that you can always count upon.

You know they’ll never leave you nor forsake you. But if you’re always grumbling, self-centered and discontented, you may get attention, but it won’t last.

People soon get tired of listening to complaints.

Cleve McClary is an ex-marine who fought in Vietnam where he was badly wounded.

He lost one eye and all of his teeth.

He lost one arm and most of the fingers on his other hand.

He lost hearing in one of his ears. When you look at him he’ll look back at you with that one eye and you know you have his undivided attention.

He has a personality that just draws people to him.

And he’ll reach out with what’s left of his one good hand and grip your hand tightly as he exchanges greetings with you. Cleve McClary has an optimistic spirit, even though life has been tough for him.

He has a special license plate on his car with the word "FIDO" on it F I D O.

When asked what that means he says it means, "Forget it and drive on."

"Forget it and drive on."

There are times when we need to let go of our burdens and just drive on in life.

So, we need to pray with an attitude of gratitude rather than complaining.

And now we come to vs’s 9-11 where Paul says,

"This is my prayer:

that your love may abound more and more in knowledge

and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern

what is best and may be pure and blameless

until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness

that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God."

Linda Birtish literally gave herself away. Linda was an outstanding teacher who felt that someday, when she had the time, she would like to devote herself to painting and writing poetry. When she was 28, however, she began to get severe headaches. Her doctors discovered that she had an enormous brain tumor. They told her that her chances of surviving an operation were about 2%. Therefore, rather than operate immediately, they decided to wait for at least 6 months. She was convinced that her talent had been given for a reason.

So, during those 6 months she wrote and painted feverishly.

All of her poetry, except her last poem, were published in magazines. All of her paintings, except for her last one, were shown and sold at some of the leading art galleries. At the end of 6 months, they scheduled the operation.

The night before the operation, she decided literally to give herself away.

In case of her death, she wrote a will in which she donated all of her usable body parts to those who needed them.

Unfortunately, Linda’s operation was not successful, and her will was carried out.

Her eyes went to an eye bank in Bethesda, MD, and from there to a recipient in So. Carolina.

As a result, a young man, age 28, went from darkness to sight. That young man was so profoundly grateful that he wrote to the eye bank thanking them for existing.

It was only the second "thank you" letter that the eye bank had ever received after giving out more than 30,000 eyes! Furthermore, he said he wanted to thank the parents of the donor.

They must indeed be magnificent folks to have a child who would give away her eyes. He was given the name of the Birtish family and decided to fly up to see them.

He arrived unannounced and rang the doorbell.

After hearing who he was, Mrs. Birtish reached out and embraced him.

After visiting with him for a while she said, "Young man, if it’s possible, my husband and I would love for you to spend the weekend with us."

He stayed, and as he was looking around Linda’s room, he saw that she’d read Plato.

He’d read Plato in Braille.

She’d read Hegel. He’d read Hegel in Braille. The next morning Mrs. Birtish said, "You know, I’m sure I’ve seen you somewhere before, but I don’t know where." All of a sudden she remembered.

She ran upstairs and pulled out the last picture Linda had ever painted. It was a portrait of her ideal man. The picture was virtually identical in appearance to this young man who had received Linda’s eyes.

Then her mother read the last poem Linda had written. It said: "Two hearts passing in the night, falling in love, never able to gain each other’s sight."

We sing an old hymn that says, "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to Him in prayer. Have you trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? You should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer."

CONCL. Is prayer a first response to you?

Or is it a last resort?

Do you pray in an attitude of gratitude?

Or are you always grumbling?

When you pray, do you make sure that God receives the glory, and not you?

If you’re here this morning outside of Jesus, you can change that.

You can be baptized this morning to wash away your sins and to walk in newness of life.

That’s why we extend an invitation.

We give you the opportunity to come forward and either be baptized

or to rededicate your life to the Lord.

If you have either need .... Will you come as we stand and sing?

Contributing Sermon Melvin Newland

Continuing Education

Mark 10:35-45

INTRO: Good morning church. We have reached the end of John chapter 4 in our lessons and before we start chapter 5, I thought we would take a break. As we study the Lord’s word and continue to grow, we will find we are in good company. Even the apostles had much to learn. Today we will read a bit of their continuing education.

Open your Bibles to the 10th chapter of the gospel of Mark. From our text this morning I’m going to read a few verses at a time for context and then make some observations and comments. In this lesson I will occasionally refer to some scriptures without reading them.

We will start with Mark 10:35-37 – “And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”” [ESV]

Then skipping down to Mark 10:41 – “And when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John.” [NKJV]

Human ambition is a fact. Perhaps not all of us possess ambition to the same degree, but it does seem that in all of us, to some extent, is a desire for advancement, the desire for recognition. Add to that the fact that the desire for “more” is something that is characteristic from the lowliest to the greatest. When ambition exists in any sort of “closed system”, it can become a divisive thing. This can be seen in job situations. It can be seen in sports teams as Mark can probably tell you. It can be seen in club settings, and, yes, it can even be found within the Lord’s church.

Our text for this morning presents us with a situation fraught with peril for the apostles. Ambition has reared its head and has been discovered by those who are being, “left out”, of the request that is made. Before I am misunderstood, I want to stress that being ambitious in and of itself is not wrong or sinful. I’m not saying that, but ambition must always be tempered by other qualities.

When I was working as a manager if I had an employee whose ambition was to do the best possible job in all cases, I considered that person valuable. On the other hand someone whose ambition was to find a job that allowed them to warm a chair all day listening to their favorite music, not so much. Unfortunately for the person with little ambition they probably would not even get in the door.

I have heard it said that ambition in life usually progresses through the following stages: to be like Dad... to be famous... to be a millionaire... to make enough to pay the bills... to hang on long enough to retire.

Our situation here today involves a request that is made by two brothers, James and John.

I.     THE REQUEST OF JAMES AND JOHN - Mark 10:37 clearly sets out their request - “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”[ESV]

A.   Let’s start with what these two men must have believed. They have referred here to - “your glory”. Matthew, in his account of this request says the request was made by the mother of James and John. In Matthew 20:21 we read “your Kingdom”. Mark is more direct and shorter then Matthew in descriptions, so for me if the request came directly from the Apostles or via their mother it is not an issue. It is still a request to secure for these two Apostles a ranking place in the Kingdom that is to come.

1.    What is it that these brothers are asking? Although we do not think in terms of kingdoms and such things these days, what these brothers are requesting is that they be given the greatest places within the kingdom of God.

2.    This tells us one shining thing about them—bewildered as they might be, they still believed in Jesus. It is amazing that they could still connect glory with a Galilean carpenter who had incurred enmity and the bitter opposition of the orthodox religious leaders. There is amazing confidence and loyalty there. Misguided James and John might be, but their hearts were in the right place. They never doubted Jesus' ultimate triumph.

3.    It is equally evident that they are still concluding that Jesus is soon going to ascend an earthly throne. They think in terms of an earthly kingdom like those with which they were familiar.

4.    In Luke 18:34, not in a parallel passage, but in a passage closely akin to what we’re reading here. Jesus is teaching them about what will happen in Jerusalem and at verse 34 the writer observes, “But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them… ” It was not hidden in that Jesus did not want them to understand. It was hidden because they lacked the understanding to accept it.

B.   They are asking a favor as the result of a relationship.

1.    They do not grasp currently all the things that are going on and they really do not understand the ramifications of what they are requesting, but they make the request nevertheless because of a close relationship they have with Jesus.

2.    We know that James and John were part of a kind of inner circle among the apostles. In Matthew 17:1 we see that along with Peter, James and John went with Jesus into the mount of transfiguration. In Matthew 26:37 we find the same three went with Jesus further into the garden in the hour of prayer.

3.    Beyond that, there is every indication in scripture that James and John are the cousins of Jesus. Matthew 27:56 indicates that their mother is one of the women who is at the cross. She is there with Mary.

4.    They see themselves as having a very favored relationship, and out of this relationship comes this request.

5.    It’s almost as if they are a little bit shy as they ask this, because in verse 35 they’re saying; “We just want You to agree to do something and then we will tell you what it is.” Of course, Jesus doesn’t do that, does He? He wants to know; “What is it that you request of me?”

C.   I mentioned this earlier and it is interesting. Was it their mother, or was it they who made the request?

1.    In Matthew’s gospel it seems that it is the mother who makes the request. Mathew 20:20.

2.    I suspect it was likely that their mother is the one who makes the actual request. The request is made at the behest of her sons, James and John, who, in typical human fashion, may believe that Jesus will give greater weight to their request if it comes from their mother. This same logic is used today by some religious people to suggest that prayer to others can intercede for us. That is not what is taught in the Bible. Jesus is our intercessor. Hebrews 7:25 – “Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” Romans 8:34 – “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”

3.    I want to be sure that I commend again the confidence and the loyalty of James and John.

D.   Let’s think about that for a moment.

1.    Their loyalty was well placed. They may have misunderstood about the kingdom, but I commend them for their loyalty to the Lord.

2.    That brings us to what I call a draught line: their need for more knowledge.

II.    THE IGNORANCE OF JAMES AND JOHN

A.   We go on and read in Mark10:38 – “Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?””

1.    They asked for this favor in ignorance of the nature of His kingdom. That is very evident.

2.    Furthermore, they were ignorant of the events that were going to transpire which would be cataclysmic, overwhelming events.

3.    Jesus refers to the cup and the baptism. These are descriptive words for experiences one is going to have which are serious, heavy and overwhelming.

4.    I’d like you to turn in your bibles to Matthew 26:37-39. In verse 37 we see that Peter, James and John went with Jesus further into the garden of Gethsemane “And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.”

5.    Listen as we read of the weight, the seriousness, the heaviness of this cup that Jesus is about to drink, this baptism with which He is about to be baptized. “Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.””

6.    Descriptive words. Of course, we know that in the texts of the New Testament baptism usually means an immersion in water, but baptism has a more general meaning than that, it something that overwhelms. Thayer’s first definition is: Baptism is used topically of calamities and afflictions with which one is quite overwhelmed: Mark 10:38; Matthew 20:22f; Luke 12:50. Indeed, in water when one is immersed the water overwhelms. Here Jesus refers to something that is going to overwhelm.

7.    It’s true that they do not understand in their ignorance what they ask. Jesus says, “Can you drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” “And they said to Him, "We can.''”

8.    They don’t really realize, YET, what has happened and what is going to happen.

B.   Jesus acknowledged that they would experience the “cup” and “baptism”. “And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized,”

1.    We see what happens to James in Acts 12:1-2 – “About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword,” James was killed by Herod. I’m not sure how much time passed after Jesus told them that they would drink the cup and be baptized with the baptism with which He was baptized, but this event takes place, and James was killed for his faith.

2.    In Revelation 1:9 we discover that John, who apparently died a natural death was exiled to the Isle of Patmos, as he says, for the Word of God. He is in exile. He is drinking the cup. He is being baptized with the baptism, which is an overwhelming experience because of his faith, for the testimony which he held.

3.    At the time of their request these two men, coming to Jesus as they did, had no concept, no idea of the cup of which they would later be drinking. We’re confident that we can drink the cup. We can experience the overwhelming experience that you’re going to experience.

4.    They didn’t understand what they were saying. That was out there in the future.

C.   We come in Mark’s gospel to Mark 10:40 and read this: “but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

1.    There is similar language to this in Matthew 20:23 – “He said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.””. In other words, what Jesus said is that privilege in the kingdom of God is not based on favor and friendship.

2.    James and John see things from a worldly point of view. They see things like political appointments to be made, favors that are handed out by those in power to those who are their friends and relatives. Don’t we see a lot of that in our world today?

3.    Jesus said that’s not the way it is in the kingdom of God. Our future blessing in the kingdom of God rests upon His grace and our obedience to the Lord.

III.  NIPPING THE PROBLEM IN THE BUD

A.   Here’s the problem—human ambition—and Jesus must nip this problem in the bud. Let’s come back to verse 41 in Mark 10: when the ten heard it, they began to be greatly displeased with James and John. The ambition of James & John threatened apostolic unity.

1.    The feelings of the ten apostles isn’t all that unnatural! A request has been made of Jesus. I have a strong suspicion that the request was made in private, but somehow it becomes known to the other ten.

2.    Perhaps there’s a lesson in that. The lesson is this: It doesn’t matter how secret you believe the confidence you have shared may be, they have a way of being known, a way of getting out and becoming hurtful to people. In this situation that’s what happened. The ten apostles who are not part of this request are hurt.

3.    They’re upset, and I think we can understand why. Among the apostles neither explicitly nor implicitly was there a difference in rank. Never was it mentioned anywhere, as far as ranking was concerned. Did they have different responsibilities and roles? Yes, that happened, but as far as rank none of them was more important than the other.

4.    James and John, though they may have been the physical kin of Jesus, were not more important than Peter and Andrew and Phillip and the others. The situation is a threat to apostolic unity and Jesus must do something about it.

B.   Jesus took immediate, and appropriate action to defuse the situation.

1.    I’d like you to notice Mark 10:42 – “And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.” He begins to solve the problem by describing the situation in the world. You know what goes on in the world He says. People who are considered great have power and authority, and they exercise that power and authority over others.

2.    Then He says in Mark 10:43-44 – “But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.” The world has a standard, but Jesus lays down the standard for greatness in the kingdom.

i.      He says here it is: Those who are great are those who become servants of all—willing servants.

ii.    Those who are going to be considered chiefest (interesting word) are those who serve others. There is no place in His kingdom for power, position and pride!

C.   Jesus makes one final argument nipping this problem in the bud. Mark 10:45 –

1.    “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Not only is the world view not to be the view in the kingdom, there’s not to be in the kingdom a desire for position and power growing out of pride. Not only that, He says, even I the Son of Man, the Son of God, the Savior, I did not come to be served. I came to minister to others.

2.    Even the Son of God. In John 13:13-15 are verses that so clearly illustrate this lesson. At the washing of the apostles’ feet, Jesus says: “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.”

3.    It’s difficult for our modern, western minds to comprehend the significance of this. In that time when a person came into a house, servants would come and wash that person’s feet. He was walking in some serious dust and his feet were dirty. It was one of the marks of hospitality for him to have his feet washed by one of the servants in the house.

4.    On this occasion the Bible says that Jesus took off His outer robes, girded Himself with a towel, and begins to wash the feet of the apostles. In other words: I, your Lord and Master did not come to be served. I came to serve. I came to minister. I may be Lord and Master, yet I will kneel to the most menial task, the washing of the feet of my disciples.

5.    He adds in this final argument that He came to give His life a ransom for many. There is in that statement without doubt His reference to His own death. His substitutionary death.

6.    In your Bibles you might want to turn to a very familiar passage in First Peter. 1st Peter 2:24 – Peter writes this of Jesus; “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” Then in 1st Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,”. He came to give His life a ransom for many.

CONCLUSION:

Human nature can at times become a problem even within the Lord’s church. Human ambition has no place among the saints of God. Zeal for the kingdom however does have a place. Repeatedly, Jesus teaches what’s real, great and good—to please and serve others. That’s the nature of life within the kingdom.

God wants us, his people, to grow in knowledge of the scriptures, both for our own understanding and so that we might accurately encourage others. Discipleship includes lifelong learning to better know God, i.e. rightly dividing the word of truth, applying His word, growing in character and serving others effectively. Let us not forget that not only are we to be learners, but we are also to be instructors and that is part of serving others. This admonition is repeated throughout the scriptures.

• 2 Peter 3:18: "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ".
• 2 Peter 1:5: "Add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge".
• Proverbs 10:14: "Wise people store up knowledge".
• 2 Timothy 2:15: "Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". 

We’re going to sing the song which was announced a while ago and as we sing if there are those present needing to take this opportunity to publically make known needs in their lives, you may step into the aisle and make your way to the front and let us know that need.

If you need the prayers of brothers and sisters, we would be glad to pray with you.

If you’ve never been baptized into Christ, your life in the kingdom has not yet begun and you need to do that.

Come believing, penitent, confessing the name of Christ, submitting yourself in loving obedience to the commandment of Jesus Christ and be baptized for the forgiveness of sin. You can do that today.

Whatever the need, we invite you to come.

# ???

Reference sermon, Cecil A. Hutson, 06 April 2008

Luke 19:1-10

A man went for physical checkup and the nurse asked him how much he weighed. He held his stomach in and replied, "160 lbs." She got him on the scales, weighed him and said: "No, your weight is 176 lbs.

The nurse then asked him how tall he was. Standing very straight he answered, "5 feet 10 inches." The nurse measured him and said, no - he was only 5’8".

Then the nurse asked him what his normal blood pressure was. After looking at her for a moment he said, "How can you expect my blood pressure to be normal???

I came in here a tall, slender man and you have already made me short and fat."

Our text is found in (Luke 19:1–10)

He entered Jericho and was passing through. 

2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus.

He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 

3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was,

but on account of the crowd he could not,

because he was small in stature. 

4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree

to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up

and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down,

for I must stay at your house today.” 

6 So Zacchaeus hurried and came down

and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it,

they all grumbled, “HE has gone in

to be the guest of a man who is A SINNER.” 

8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord,

“Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

And if I have defrauded anyone of anything,

I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, 

“Today salvation has come to this house,

since he also is a son of Abraham. 

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Introduction:

Jericho was bustling that day—crowds pressing in, voices rising, dust swirling. And in the middle of it all was a man who had everything money could buy and nothing his soul truly needed.

Zacchaeus wasn’t just short in stature; he was short on friends, short on integrity, short on hope. Yet something in him longed to see Jesus.

This is a story about a man who climbed a tree to see Jesus—and discovered that Jesus had already been looking for him.

Zacchaeus was A Man Defined by His Past

Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector.

Not just a tax collector—but he was the chief tax collector.

He was wealthy, but his wealth came from exploiting his own people.

And, Because of that

• He was socially rejected
• He was Spiritually isolated
• He was Morally compromised
• And Zacchaeus was Personally empty

The People of that time saw the negative label placed on Zacchaeus.

Jesus saw his longing to belong and fit in.

Every congregation has people like Zacchaeus—

some hiding in plain sight,

some hiding behind success,

some hiding behind shame.

And many of them are quietly climbing trees, hoping to catch a glimpse of grace.

When Zacchaeus Climbs the Sycamore Tree

He is displaying A Picture of Spiritual Hunger

Despite his reputation, Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a tree.

Running was undignified. Climbing was childish.

But desperation often looks foolish to the world.

But in the actions displayed by Zacchaeus I believe he teaches us something essential:

Spiritual hunger is the first step toward spiritual healing.

He didn’t know what he was looking for.

But he knew what he had wasn’t enough.

Then we see Jesus Stop, Look Up, and Call His Name

This is the turning point.

Jesus stops under the tree.

He looks up. He calls Zacchaeus by name.

He invites Himself to Zacchaeus’s house.

This is grace in motion.

Jesus doesn’t say: “Clean up your life, then I’ll come.”

He says: “I’m coming in—and that will clean your life.”

Grace always precedes transformation.

And notice: Zacchaeus climbed the tree to see Jesus.

But Jesus came to seek Zacchaeus.

I was very surprised by the reaction of the crowd that was present.

The Crowd Grumbles: It seems that Grace for some reason…

Offends the Self‑Righteous

When Jesus chooses Zacchaeus, the crowd mutters: “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

They weren’t wrong.

They were just blind to their own need.

The gospel appears to look scandalous to those who think they don’t need it.

But Zacchaeus Responds with Radical Repentance

Zacchaeus stands and declares:

• “Half my possessions I give to the poor.”
• “If I have cheated anyone, I will repay fourfold.”

This is not guilt. This is not religious pressure.

This is joy‑filled repentance.

Grace doesn’t just forgive sin—it breaks its power.

Zacchaeus didn’t change to earn Jesus’ love.

He changed because he had already received it.

And then comes the declaration that

“Today salvation has come to this house.”

Not someday. Not after a probation period.

Not once Zacchaeus proved himself.

Today, right now…. Salvation has come.

salvation is not a reward for good behavior.

It is the presence of Jesus entering a life.

The Mission of Jesus is summed up in One Sentence

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

This is the heartbeat of the gospel.

This is the mission of the church.

This is the hope of every Zacchaeus in every generation.

Jesus seeks.

Jesus saves.

Jesus restores.

Where Are We in the Story?

Every person is somewhere in this narrative:

• Some are found In the crowd, curious but distant
• Some have climbed the tree, longing but unsure
• Some are sitting with Jesus In the house,

receiving grace

• Some are In the middle of the transformation,

living out repentance

• And then there are those who make up the crowd Grumbling, blaming others for their problems forgetting their own need for mercy

As I prepared this sermon a song from years back came to mind:

It was sung by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel

" I've built walls

A fortress deep and mighty

That none may penetrate

I have no need of friendship, friendship causes pain

It's laughter and it's loving I disdain

I am a rock, I am an island

I have my books

And my poetry to protect me

I am shielded in my armor

Hiding in my room, safe within my womb,

I touch no one and no one touches me.

I am a rock, I am… an island

("I Am A Rock")

That’s how I picture Zacchaeus –

a lonely, isolated man who has everything...

except what he really wants.

And then Jesus comes to town.

Now, the real question is…

What does the story of Zacchaeus tell us?

It tells us there are people in this world that are hurting.

And they are often men and women that behave in ways that aren’t particularly endearing.

They’re often not cute puppy dog types with big soft eyes that say -"won’t you take me home?"

They are rough people. Hard edged and rude.

And they’ll try to swindle you in a business deal or rip you off when you’re not looking.

Inside, they are little people who’ve built walls around themselves.

Walls laced with barbed wire.

They’re often NOT nice people.

AND even though they know that being like this isn’t right…

They believe that’s what life has to offer…

And If they let down the walls, if they are nice to someone for even a moment –

they’ll get hurt and lose the protection that has for so long comforted them.

Their walls are up and they know of nothing better for their lives…

That is, until Jesus comes.

That’s what Paul wrote about in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit

the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:

Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters

nor adulterers nor male prostitutes

nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy

nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers

will inherit the kingdom of God.

And that is what some of you were.

But you were washed, you were sanctified,

you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

and by the Spirit of our God."

And, One last thing I want us to notice –

Jesus came looking for Zacchaeus.

He knew where he lived.

He knew the turmoil in Zacchaeus’ heart.

He came to make a difference in the life a man who was small, petty and bitter.

If Jesus would go to all that trouble for a man like Zacchaeus, wouldn’t he do the same for your life?

I will close today’s lesson with a story about a man named Big Jim. Big Jim was the head of an orphanage, & he had a great ability to make people feel good about themselves.

If there was a little kid with unruly hair, he had the ability to make that child believe that everybody wanted unruly hair.

If a kid had big feet, why he made him think that everybody envied him, that it was the "in" thing to have big feet. He just had the ability to make everybody feel good about themselves, regardless of their physical appearance.

Well, one day when Big Jim was out buying groceries, the social worker brought a new boy to be cared for in the orphanage, a little boy about 9 years old who had an ugly birthmark on the side of his face.

The kid had been abused, nobody seemed to love or accept him, & he was filled with hostility. Well, when she left him, the boy began cursing her & everybody around him.

Then he went over to the corner, sat down & sulked.

He wouldn’t talk to anybody, not even the other kids.

The kids wondered what Big Jim would do when he came back. Finally, they heard his old station wagon pull up, & they all rushed to the door, greeting him & hugging him as they always did.

Big Jim walked into the room & there was this little boy crouched in the corner, with the ugly birthmark on his face.

Big Jim said, "Well, what do we have here?"

Someone replied, "The social worker just dropped him off.”

"Well, well," said Big Jim.

He walked over to that little boy & knelt down beside him.

Then he swooped him up in his arms & kissed him right on that birthmark. All the kids started clapping, because they knew that if Big Jim kissed the birthmark it was all right. It made it beautiful, just because Big Jim said it was.

People, that is what God has done.

His love has covered us completely so that He doesn’t see the ugly parts of us any more.

We are beautiful in God’s sight.

He has made us beautiful. If you’re here & are experiencing the loneliness of rejection, then I want you to know

that God looks beyond all those things that people might consider ugly & unattractive.

He looks at your heart.

He looks for love. He looks for repentance.

And He looks for commitment.

If you have those things, you’re beautiful in God’s sight.

If you don’t have them, God wants to take you in His arms, the same way that Big Jim took the little boy in his, & make you all new again.

The good news is this:

Jesus is still stopping under trees.

He is Still calling names.

He is Still entering homes.

He is Still saving the lost.

And He still delights in turning sinners into sons, outcasts into disciples, and broken stories into testimonies of grace.

We extend the Lord’s invitation.

We invite you to come as we stand & sing.

The Problem of Unbelief

John 4:43-54

INTRO:

The problem of belief and unbelief has really been a theme that John has been carrying in his gospel.

Part of the problem is that we often define unbelief as the total rejection of God.

That's why if you take a general poll about if people believe in God, you get an extraordinarily high rating. Also if you ask people if they believe in Jesus, you get yet another extraordinarily high rating.

John, in a sense, is dealing with that and trying to show us what true belief really looks like, and in the process, exposes unbelief.

What is true belief? Who will believe in Jesus? Nicodemus came to Jesus with belief: “We know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus shows him that he has insufficient belief. Nicodemus must experience the new birth, total regeneration of the heart, to have saving faith. That same problem was illustrated in John 2:23-25. Many believed in His name when they saw the signs, but Jesus did not entrust Himself to them because He knew their hearts. Jesus is dealing with what true belief looks like and John is showing it to us. Many seem to have faith and belief in Jesus, but it is insufficient, shallow faith. John returns to this problem of unbelief in the final paragraph of chapter 4.

I. Unbelief Described – Verse 43, “After the two days he departed for Galilee.” Jesus has been in Samaria and He stayed there two days. Many in Samaria believed because of the words He was teaching. They no longer believed because of the woman’s testimony, but their faith had deepened to belief in Jesus because they heard Him for themselves. They confess Jesus to be the Savior of the world.

A. Then Jesus leaves and continues to Galilee. Remember in John 4:3 that Jesus left Judea and was going to Galilee. The reason why is because the Pharisees' attention has turned away from John the Baptist and is now turning toward Jesus, recognizing that He needs to be the point of their opposition.

1. Jesus continues His journey to Galilee and a curious statement is made in verse 44. “(For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.)” John tells us Jesus is going to Galilee (which was his own country) and then inserts this parenthetical comment that He had testified a prophet has no honor in his own country. Then John writes in verse 45 “So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.”

2. That does not seem to make any sense. He is going to Galilee, where He is not going to receive any honor, yet the Galileans welcome Him. What are you telling us John? I think the things John wants us to observe are still about what belief and what unbelief really looks like.

B. The first is simply this, there is a contrast being drawn to the reaction of the Samaritans and the reaction of the Galileans.

1. In Samaria Jesus has enjoyed unqualified, unopposed, and open-hearted success. When the woman returned to the town, she told them of her experience and says, you need to come and see. Is this perhaps the Messiah? All the town comes to see Jesus, and we’re told there that they then believe on Him.

2. Next Jesus returns to His own people, the Jews, and the response is not going to be the same. Notice it is very carefully worded there in verse 45. The reason why the Galileans welcome Him is because of all the signs that He's done in Jerusalem. They are not welcoming Jesus based upon a true belief in Him.

3. Jesus finds acceptance with the Samaritans but rejection with His own people. The Samaritans believed because of what Jesus said (John 4:42). This belief has led to their salvation because they recognize Jesus to be the Savior of the world. They are experiencing the life changing faith that Jesus calls for. However, this is not true with his own people.

4. They are looking for the wow factor, to see something special occur. They saw all that He had done in Jerusalem at the feast, and they welcomed Him because of the signs. However, Jesus does not want “wow” belief but new birth. Jesus is not trying to generate in people’s hearts; a “wow, that was neat” belief. Jesus is trying to generate life-change, new birth, and fully transforming faith.

C. We see this several times in John's Gospel. We will see it again in John 7:2f, “2. Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. 3. So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4. For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.” 5. For not even his brothers believed in him.” We're told Jesus' brothers do not believe, but what do they want Him to do? Go to Jerusalem and show who you are. Put on a big display. Show them a sign you are who you say you are. They don't truly believe, but they're saying He can do signs.

1. It is the same here. They welcome Jesus, but it is a very shallow welcoming. They only want to see some miracles. They want to see Him do something neat.

2. The despised Samaritans turn to Christ in faith and declare “You are the savior of the world”, while the historical covenant community of God either oppose Jesus or cannot progress beyond a fascination for miracles. This goes back to the point John made at the beginning of this gospel: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11).

3. It has been a couple months but remember we read in John 2:23, “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” Jesus is not being honored for who He is but what He did.

D. Do you think that this same false belief exists today? Are there those who believe in Jesus based on some shallow, physical benefit that can be derived from Him? Is there still the problem of people who are interested in Jesus and an association with Him, not to honor Him for who He is but for what they can get out of it?

1. I strongly suspect it is still very much an issue. That shallow belief, will leave them condemned. The pursuit of Jesus is often about, what does it mean for me? What am I going to get out of this? It’s not about, I'm going to follow you because I know who you are and I know how great you are and you are worthy of honor and praise.

2. It's about—I like this place because they've got good youth groups. They've got camps. They've got good music. They've got things that I really enjoy, good get-togethers, the church is nice, there's some kind of financial gain, the people take care of me. It is entertaining.

3. When we turn worship into what we get out of it or what we like, then we do not have the life transforming faith that Jesus expects. Bob Spence used to tell me that you only get out of it what you put in it. John tells us the people believe in Jesus because of what they can get from Him, and that happens today as well. People often think rather than Jesus being the treasure, the treasure is what we can get out of Jesus.

4. People are not coming to Jesus for mercy and salvation. They are coming to Him to divide inheritances, to tell others what to do, to justify their own lifestyle and decisions, and to gain something now.

E. Jesus is not a hobby. Jesus is not an idol to be put on the shelf with all the other things we put up and take down at will. Jesus demands life change. Jesus calls for new birth. “Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

1. John is writing this gospel so that we will truly believe in Jesus. What John tells us should be causing us to ask the question: Why do we follow Jesus? Nearly everyone welcomes Jesus, but why do we welcome Jesus? Why do you follow Him? Why do you obey Him? What are you seeking with Jesus? Is it recognition of who Jesus is? Is He the treasure?

2. Or is it simply self-serving? What I get out of it, and the moment I don't receive the things that I think I ought to receive, I will no longer obey. I will no longer follow. I will no longer listen.

3. Often, that's what people want to do with God, isn’t it? We want Him just to be there in times of difficulty, in times of inconvenience, in times of suffering. I'll pull my Jesus idol down and He'll take care of me. God will not accept that. Jesus is looking for a life change. He's calling for new birth.

II. Shallow Faith, Greater Grace – Watch how that moves into the story of the official’s son. John 4:46-47, “So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.” An official has an ill son in Capernaum. When he hears that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he goes to Cana (about 15 miles away) and asks Jesus to come with him to heal his son.

A. Listen to the words of Jesus in verse 48, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” [ESV] We need to know that the word “you” is a plural “you.” Jesus is addressing the people, not simply this official. That is why several translations insert the word “people” into the text to help identify that the Greek indicates Jesus is not speaking to the official only.

1. Jesus did say it to this official, and Jesus is lumping him in with the rest of the Jews who are welcoming Him only because of the signs He performs.

2. The official persists in verse 49, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” The nobleman did not pretend to a faith he did not have but only poured out the agony of a broken heart before the only one who he knew could help. Such an outpouring of human sorrow was not lost upon "the Man of Sorrows."

3. Jesus then responds in a way that I find fascinating, compassionate and loving. “Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.” Little faith had suddenly grown strong. In Jesus' presence, under the impact of His imperative word, and in the light of all he remembered from Jerusalem, the man believed the word of Jesus. Having believed, he obeyed at once, returning to Capernaum.

4. Rather than responding with the same words of how these people lack faith, reject him or ignore him, Jesus works on this official’s heart. Now the official goes down the journey of faith like we see the Samaritans doing earlier in this chapter. His faith is not complete, as we will see in a moment, but it is forming. The man does not disbelieve. He leaves Jesus and is going back home.

B. John 4:51, “As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.” The reward of the nobleman's faith did not wait for his complete return but was brought by his servants who set out with the good news.

1. His servants meet him on the road and tell him that his son was getting better. Continuing, “So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live…”” Now listen to the end of verse 53, “… And he himself believed, and all his household.”

2. Had he not already believed back in verse 50? What John is showing us is the movement of belief. It all began with signs and wonders, then he believes in Jesus when He says, “Go; your son will live.”

3. His faith is forming. Then when he hears from his servant that the fever left his son at the same hour when Jesus said those words, it says he believed. Coming to full belief, resulting in the transformation that John has been proclaiming in these four chapters. The official’s faith has been growing and leads to the full transformation that Jesus is looking for.

4. Do we see that this is the same pattern as the Samaritans? The Samaritans first believe because they heard the testimony of the woman. Then they fully believe because they met Jesus and heard His teachings.

C. John is showing us something through the actions and teaching of Jesus. Faith starts shallow. I submit to you that perhaps for most of us, if not all of us, we typically start with that very baseline belief. We didn't like the idea of eternal punishment. That was our primary motivator. That's not our motivation anymore. We may have started out of fear, and while that's a very real scare, it's moving to a love of Christ. We want to obey, not out of I don't want to go there, but out of I want to be with Him.

1. The problem is not that we start at the beginning point of belief. The problem is that so many remain there and never go any deeper to true, saving, life changing faith. We enter the first stage of belief and think it is enough. We declare that we believe in Jesus.

2. We believe He came to this world and died for our sins, but for some belief never expands beyond that. Think about how James identified this same problem, James 2:19, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!”. The demons believe, but it is not a saving faith. They have the starting point of faith just like many others.

3. True belief is one that brings about radical life transformation in obedience to Jesus. This is exactly what James teaches in the rest of that paragraph. James 2:20-21, “Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?”

4. Abraham’s faith was so deep that he was willing to offer his only son Isaac to God because God commanded it! That is true belief — radically transformed faith. True belief obeys God regardless of the cost. It is important to see what John is showing us so that we understand where the people we meet might be on their journey. We need to be able to relate so that we, in love, can encourage them.

D. True belief does not leave God because of inconvenience and difficulty. True belief does not come to Jesus at night. True belief loves Jesus and seeks Him, not because of what He does for us, but because of who He is, how great He is, and how I owe Him everything. We encourage those we meet to not remain with basic, shallow belief that does not lead to life change. Take the road of faith. Let your faith grow. Grow deeper with your Savior.

III. The Sign – In verse 54 John writes, “This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.” John calls this a sign so we need to pay attention to the meaning of the sign. John has a purpose in picking out the seven signs. There is a deeper meaning behind these than simply, He does miracles. John is driving at something.

A. Jesus has come to Cana in Galilee, the location of His first miracle where He turned the water into wine.

1. Recall in John 2 that with this turning of the water to wine, Jesus was showing that what He brought were blessings of God which were greater, superior, and more abundant than the blessings which were found through the Law of Moses.

2. Jesus is shown as being superior to the things of the Old Testament, making Himself equal to God. He is God because He does what was done in the past. He does the very works of God. We saw that with the very first verse in the first chapter of John. “In the beginning was the Word.” Here is this equation made right out of the gate. Using the creation story, Jesus is God because He does what God does.

B. Jesus returns to Cana and John tells us that this is the second sign he recorded there. I wondered why John included this sign? I suspect John did so to show that the physical presence of the Lord was not required in the performance of His signs, but that His Holy Will was effective from any distance whatsoever.

1. In 1st Kings 17 we see the widow’s son had become ill and there was not breath left in him. Elijah took the boy, and prayed to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.”

2. Then in 1st Kings 17:23 we read, “And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.””

3. Elijah was there and prayed to the Lord but in John 4:50 “Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”” With Jesus the spoken word was enough. Jesus is greater than Elijah. Jesus does what only God can do.

CONCLUSION:

Jesus has the power to give life, and He can give it through His very words. This is what leads to our deeper level of belief. Jesus gives life. Notice the greatness of Jesus in the story. It is by His very words that this son lived. Jesus said simple words, “Your son will live” and the son lived. What power! When He tells you that you will live, then you will live! Listen to Jesus’ words: “… I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” [ESV] (John 11:25–26)

When you have experienced life transformation… when you go past the surface of superficial belief, come to know who Jesus is, and you love Him… here's what's going to happen. You will live. You have life. He has the power to declare it. He has promised that He will give it to all who believe in Him. This is what John is trying to get us to understand. The hanging question is, “Do you believe this?”

Whoever believes in Jesus, though we die, will have life! Jesus has showed us that He has power over physical life. He therefore has power over spiritual life. Whoever believes in Jesus shall never die (i.e. be separated from God).

John said, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” Life is not anywhere else. Follow Him because He is the Lord. He is worthy of our honor, worthy of our praise and worthy of us giving Him everything because He came and died for us.

Faith begins when we recognize Jesus as the son of God and recognize our need for forgiveness of sins. It is a belief that recognizes I need to escape eternal punishment because that is what I deserve because of my actions. Then it progresses, it presses on. It doesn't stay there.

If you have not accepted Jesus and believed in Him and submitted your life to Him, that is your starting point—believe that Jesus is the son of God who came to this world and died for your sins. Be immersed in water to have your sins washed away to enter a relationship with Him so that you can know that you have eternal life.

If you've already begun there, don't stop. Do not think you can now put your life in neutral and you're good to go. Deepen the relationship. See him as the treasure.

Recognize Him and honor Him for who He is. We invite you to come while we stand and while we sing.

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Reference Sermon: Brent Kercheville

Philippians 3:12-14

There is an old story about a happy little boy who went out into the field wearing a baseball cap. In one hand he carried a baseball, & in the other a baseball bat. His face bore a look of tremendous confidence.

Cocking his bat, he tossed the ball into the air, saying, "I’m the greatest batter in the world!" Then he swung & missed. "Strike one," he said.

He picked up the ball, examined it, & then threw it into the air again. As he swung, he repeated, "I’m the greatest batter in the world." Once again he missed. "Strike two," he said.

This time, he stopped to examine his bat to make sure there wasn’t a hole in it. Then he picked up the ball, adjusted his cap, & tossed the ball into the air for the 3rd time.

He repeated again, "I’m the greatest batter in the world," & swung with all his might & missed for the 3rd straight time. "Wow" he cried, "What a pitcher. I’m the greatest pitcher in the world!"

As we start to prepare for a new year, & as we look back over the last 12 months, I’m not sure whether most of us would be considered pitchers or batters. One thing for sure, at times we have all struck out.

What do you anticipate for this upcoming year? Are you full of enthusiasm, looking forward eagerly to what each day will bring? Or are you filled with a sense of dread, worried that this year will be worse than last year was for you?

Like the little boy with the bat, may I suggest that your attitude, your frame of mind, your reaction to its events will largely determine whether this year is a year of victory or a year of defeat.

The turning of a year brings a mix of relief, hope, and uncertainty.

Whether you enter this time of year with joy, weariness, or cautious expectation, today is an invitation to pause, remember God’s faithfulness, and step forward with renewed purpose.

Remember the ways God has led you; God makes all things new and calls us to walk forward in faith.

Memory shapes our faith. Remembering God’s past faithfulness grounds our hope for the future.

Faith without action remains idle. God’s grace calls for a response—small, steady steps of obedience that shape a life.

A single seed planted consistently yields a harvest; so one faithful choice repeated becomes character.

The Apostle Paul was never one to let circumstances conquer him. Rather, with the help of God, he was determined to win the victor’s crown. Listen as his attitude, dedication, determination shine through in these words found in Philippians 3:12-14.

"I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.

“But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind & straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

With Paul’s words fresh in our minds, here are some suggestions to help us be all that we can be this year.

First of all, recognize the value of time.

How do we value ONE YEAR?

To a parent, it’s watching a child grow in ways they never imagined.

To a married couple of 50 years, it’s another chapter in a long story of faithfulness.

To someone who is ill, it’s hope — the chance for recovery, treatment, or simply more time with loved ones.

To someone who wasted a year, it’s a reminder that time is a gift not to be taken lightly.

How do we value ONE MONTH? Ask a Mother whose baby arrived prematurely.

To a new parent, one month is the difference between a newborn who can barely focus and a baby who recognizes their voice.

To someone waiting for medical results, a month is a long stretch of prayer and uncertainty.

To someone rebuilding their life, it’s proof that change is possible in small, faithful increments.

How do we value ONE WEEK?

To someone struggling, a week is proof that they made it through seven more days.

To someone beginning a new habit, a week is the first sign that change is possible.

How do we value ONE HOUR? Ask someone who lies terminally ill waiting for a loved one who is late.

To someone waiting for news, an hour is an eternity.

To someone in prison, an hour is a chance to think, pray, or regret.

To someone grieving, an hour can bring a wave of sorrow or a moment of peace.

To someone you encourage in your letters, an hour might be the difference between despair and hope.

And then I found this quote: A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life!

Any ideas on where I found this quote?

How do we value ONE MINUTE? Ask someone who missed a plane, a train, a very important engagement that would never be rescheduled.

To someone receiving CPR, one minute is the difference between life and death.

To someone waiting for a loved one to call, a minute is a small ache of hope.

To someone in prison, a minute can be a moment of temptation or a moment of clarity.

To someone grieving, a minute can bring a memory that breaks them or comforts them.

To a married couple, a minute can be a kiss, a kind word, or a small act of grace.

To someone you write to, a minute might be the moment they decide to keep going.

How do we value ONE SECOND? Ask an Olympic Medalist, or someone who just missed having an accident, or someone saying “goodbye” to a loved one they will never see again.

To a driver at an intersection, one second is the difference between safety and tragedy.

To someone saying goodbye, a second is one more heartbeat together.

To someone grieving, a second can bring a memory that softens or shatters.

To someone you encourage, a second might be the instant they decide not to give up.

The Bible says, "With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, & a thousand years are like a day." (2 Peter 3:8) God deals with eternity, & therefore time is not an important factor with Him.

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye…” — God can transform everything.

But time is important to us because we live in a limited time frame. We begin with initial stages, then go on to adolescence, adulthood, middle age, old age, & to everything that follows. We measure life in segments of time.

Now, what makes something valuable? Oftentimes it is scarcity. If there is a scarcity, then that product quickly escalates in value.

So, if something is rare, it is usually valuable. But if we have a lot of it, it loses its value. Now, the same is true with time.

So those of us over 60 tend to look at those under 20 & say, "Don’t squander time, because it’s valuable." They reply, "No, it’s not. We have lots of time. So we can waste it any way we want."

The Bible often speaks of the brevity of life.

No wonder the Psalmist asks God, "What is man that you are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4)

Statisticians tell us that the average life span is now around 76 years. If you’re under 30 then you think that is a long time. But if you’re nearing that age, you’re beginning to realize that’s not really very long at all.

I ran across some interesting statistics a few years ago. Someone went to the trouble to research what people do with their time, & came up with these results:

If we live to be 75, most of us will have spent 3 solid years, 24 hours a day, acquiring an education grade school, high school & college.

We’ll have spent 7 years eating, 24 hours a day, some less, & some more, obviously. We’ll have spent 14 years, day & night, working. We’ll have spent 5 years riding in automobiles or airplanes.

We’ll have spent 5 years talking with each other…again some more & some less. We’ll have spent 1 year sick or recovering from sickness. And get this, we’ll have spent 24 years of our life sleeping!

We’ll have spent 3 years reading books, magazines & newspapers. And 12 years amusing ourselves watching TV, going to the movies, fishing, etc.

That totals up to 75 years & that is what the researchers say, on average, most of us will have done with our lives.

As I looked at these statistics I began thinking. Let’s suppose that you spent every Sunday of your life, for 75 years through infancy, childhood, adulthood, old age in God’s house worshiping during the Church Service.

Now if you did that, how much time would you have spent worshiping God? For those of you who did the math… yes the answer is less than 5 1/2 months.

But let’s double that, because you’ve always attended Bible Study. You’ve never missed Bible Study in all your life. That makes it 11 months.

Think about those 5 years in an automobile & just 11 months in Church & Bible Study! Twelve years amusing ourselves in front of a TV, & just 11 months in Church & Bible Study And that is just if you always attended Bible Study & Church, & never missed!

That tells us a little bit about the brevity of time, & it also tells us something about our priorities in life.

The Bible also teaches us that life is uncertain. Time is like a valuable commodity in a very precious & delicate vessel. It might break at any moment & we might lose it all. So we have this moment. We don’t know anything about the future, but we have this moment & that is all that we really have.

Because of the uncertainty of life, the Bible says, "Now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation." (2 Corinthians 6:2)

Hebrews 3:15 says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Because life is uncertain, we must take advantage of the time that we have.

Secondly, don’t be in bondage to the past.

We are special beings in that God has given us the ability to remember. Your memory may be your friend or your enemy. When you remember, hopefully you’ll remember some very pleasant things about this past year, but chances are that you’ll also remember some negative things.

Those negative things can cripple us & hold us in bondage to the past. That is why Paul said, "Forgetting what is behind..." Paul had a lot to forget. Paul had a very shaky past.

He persecuted the church. He used his authority to kill Christians. By his own admission he said, "I am the chief of sinners." (1 Timothy 1:15)

He could have walked around all his life with this tremendous burden of guilt crippling him & he would never have become the great apostle we know & love today.

But Paul said, "Forgetting what is behind..." In other words, "God, I commit it to you. I seek your forgiveness for all the sins of the past, & I look forward to what lies ahead. And right now I’m going to live today the best I can."

I believe that is good advice for us as well.

Finally, I think that we need to establish a priority in our lives.

Paul says it this way, "This one thing I do." Now Paul obviously did more than one thing. He made tents. He preached sermons & established churches. He healed the sick. He wrote books. He did a lot of different things.

But he said, "The top priority in my life is to ‘press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’ “

A while back an expert on the subject of time management was speaking to a group of business students.

After speaking to them for a while, he said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.” He set a one-gallon, wide mouthed Mason jar on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks & carefully placed them, one at a time, inside the jar.

When the jar was filled to the top & no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”

“Really?” he said. Then he reached under the table & pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel into the jar & shook it, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks.

Then he smiled & asked the group once more, “Is the jar full?” By this time the class was on to him. “Probably not,” one of them said.

“Good!” he replied. And he reached under the table & brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in & it filled all the spaces between the rocks & the gravel.

Once more he asked, “Is this jar full?” “No!” the class shouted. Again he said, “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water & began to pour in the water until the jar was filled to the brim.

Then he looked back at the class & asked, “What is the point of this illustration?” One eager beaver raised his hand & said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit something more into it!”

“No,” the speaker replied, “that’s not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is this: If you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”

What are the big rocks of your life? - They should include these: Each day drawing nearer to God, spending time with Him in prayer, & seeking His guidance for your life through reading His Word. Remember to put these BIG ROCKS in first or you’ll never get them in at all.

It was Jesus who said, "Seek first His kingdom & His righteousness, & all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)

An old beggar woman ran out of money. She couldn’t pay her rent. She couldn’t pay any of her bills. The landlord had threatened to throw her out if she didn’t soon pay her rent.

She had only a candle to keep her warm, & on Christmas Day she warmed her hands over the candle. There was a knocking at her door & she was afraid to answer for fear that it was the landlord coming to kick her out.

She blew out her candle & sat quietly in the dark & waited for the intruder to leave. Two weeks later she found out that the knocking on her door was the knock of a friend who had come to bring her enough money to pay her rent & pay her debts.

I wonder how many have from time to time heard the gentle knock of the Savior who wants so much to come in & free them from the burdens of their sin? But they have ignored His knocking.

DEAR LORD of yesterday and tomorrow,

we bring our memories and our hopes.

Forgive what we have done that separates us from you.

Renew our hearts where they are weary.

Give us courage to live faithfully in both

the large and small choices of each day.

Make us instruments of your peace,

and guide our feet into paths of justice and mercy.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

This morning God’s invitation is offered to any & all who would accept Him and be baptized for the remission of their sins. He came as a baby in the manger. But He also came as the Redeemer, & this morning He patiently waits for you. Whatever your need may be; whether to be baptized or to ask for the prayers of the congregation, will you come as we stand & as we sing?

What is the Best Gift We Could Receive? Isaiah 8:11 – 9:7

It was the day after Christmas.

An Elder of the church was looking over the manager display when he noticed that the baby Jesus was missing.

Immediately he turned and saw a little boy with a red wagon, and in the wagon was the figure of the little infant, Jesus.

So the Elder walked up to the boy and asked, “Hey there! Where did you happen to find this baby figure?”

The little boy replied, “I got him from the church.”

“And why did you take him?”

To which the boy quickly answered, “Well, about a week before Christmas I prayed to the little Lord Jesus and I told him if he would bring me a red wagon for Christmas I would give him a ride around the block in it.

This time of year brings the question:

WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR? We ask children, grandchildren, spouses, and friends to give us a list of items they might like for Christmas. I would like to start my lesson this morning by asking you …. if you could ask for just one thing this year … no matter the cost… what would it be?

I’m sure that as you look around this week you will see signs of Christmas rapidly approaching. And what I want us to consider this morning is– “Signs sent by God.”

The Bible contains numerous passages that are signs from God. These signs can take various forms and are often seen as a means through which God communicates with humanity.

Here are some examples:

The Bible describes instances where God uses natural events to convey messages.

For example, the parting of the Red Sea during the exodus of the Israelites is seen as a miraculous sign. (Exodus 14:21-22).

Miracles, such as the healing of the sick, raising the dead, and turning water into wine, are often considered signs of God's intervention.

The fulfillment of prophecies is often seen as a sign of God's guidance and involvement. The Old Testament contains numerous prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ.

God was in the business of providing signs from the very beginning. After the flood, when the rainbow appeared, God told Noah it was a sign that He would not flood the entire earth like that again.

So, whenever we see a rainbow, that sign reminds us of His promise.

Through Moses & Aaron God gave very dramatic signs to Pharaoh to force him to set the Israelites free. And in the wilderness during the next 40 years God provided multiple signs of His power and His guidance & of His love for His people.

Isaiah 7:14 says,  Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

A prophecy is a foretelling of a future event. The Prophet was given insight regarding something previously unknown. The fulfillment of prophecy would be proof & a sign that God could be believed & trusted. Sometimes a prophecy was fulfilled soon after it was made.

Sometimes the fulfillment was hundreds of years later, like this one.

This prophecy was written 700 years before it was fulfilled.

Matt. 1:21-23 tells us the angel told Joseph, 

21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, 

for he will save his people from their sins.” 

22 All this took place to fulfill what

the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,     and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). 

So, both Mary & Joseph received signs that confirmed what they were told.

Jesus’ birth was not his beginning. It was his beginning in human form, but Jesus existed long prior - from the very beginning.

In the year 1809 the world was in an upheaval.

Napoleon was sweeping through Austria and soldiers from many countries were dying on the battlefield.

The fate of entire kingdoms and nations hung in the balance and the world seemed on the very edge of collapse.

It was 1809...

And in that same year several significant people were born. In Britain, there was William Gladstone born to become one of England’s finest statesmen.

And Alfred Lord Tennyson, born to be a great author of his day.

In the US - Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cambridge.

In Boston, Edgar Allen Poe began his eventful, albeit tragic, life. It was also in that same year that Charles Darwin was born. And in a rugged cabin in Kentucky, Abraham Lincoln was born.

If there had been a news broadcast back in 1809

I am sure that these words would have been heard:

“The destiny of the world is being shaped

on an Austrian battlefield today.”

But, history was actually being shaped in the cradles of England and America.

Every age has its dangers. Eventually every nation faces difficulties.

Even today in the US we’re concerned with financial troubles, international terrorism, and political uncertainty.

Every nation, sooner or later, will face threats and perils that will make them believe that the destiny of the world is being shaped by that day’s events. And they will see their future as bleak, dark, and hopeless.

And yet, in every age, the birth of a child can make a significant impact on their destiny. Back in the days of Isaiah, the world looked dark, and bleak, and hopeless.

The nation of Israel had turned their back on God and God, in His turn, had turned His back on them.

It was going to be a time of darkness.

A time of hopelessness. But… just a few verses later, God said there will be a time of hope and light – hope and light brought by the birth of a child.

Look at Isaiah 9:2 The people who walked in darkness     have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,     on them has light shone. Yes, Israel, you have walked in darkness. Yes, Israel you have been living in the land of the shadow of death. But there will be hope.

And then in verse 6 He tells them why. For to us a child is born,     to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder,     and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,     Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

A counselor is someone you listen to. Someone who gives you guidance or advice on things you think are important.

Newspaper columnist and counselor George Crane tells of a wife who came into his office full of hatred toward her husband.

"I not only want to get rid of him, I want to get even. Before I divorce him,

I want to hurt him as much as he has me."

Dr. Crane thought about that for a couple of moments and then suggested an ingenious plan. "Go home and act as if you really love your husband,” He told her. “Tell him how much he means to you.

Praise him for every decent trait.

Go out of your way to be as kind and considerate and generous as possible.

Spare no efforts to please him, to enjoy him.

After you’ve convinced him of your undying love and that you cannot live without him… then drop the bomb. Tell him that you’re getting a divorce.

That will really hurt him."

With revenge in her eyes, she smiled and exclaimed, "Beautiful, beautiful. Will he ever be surprised!" And she did it with enthusiasm.

For two months she acted "as if," she loved him.

She was kind to him; she listened to him.

She was constantly giving, reinforcing, sharing. Two months went by…

and she didn’t return to her counselor, so Crane called her.

"Are you ready now to go through with the divorce?"

"Divorce?" she exclaimed. "Never!

I discovered I really do love him."

A counselor is someone you listen to. Someone you accept advice from.

The problem for Israel is that they had gotten into the habit

of listening to the wrong counselors.

Look with me at Isaiah 9:19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts     the land is scorched, and the people are like fuel for the fire;     no one spares another.

There were men in Israel who were giving the people bad advice.

These men were advising Israelites to listen to someone other than God –

mediums and spiritists and folks that said they talked to the dead.

Apparently, these men were trusted enough by the people to be taken seriously. And because Israel listened to these counselors, their nation was going to suffer terribly.

And so, God was telling His people: You’re walking in darkness, in the shadow of death, because you’ve listened to the wrong counselors.

BUT REJOICE because unto you a child is born, unto you a son is given and He’s going to be a wonderful counselor. He’s going to be someone you can listen to and know His advice is right.

You’ll be able to stake your life on what He tells you. No mortal man or woman is going to be able to be capable of giving you advice that will be anywhere as good as His.

Now, I don’t want you to get the impression that I’m saying we are not to take advice. Proverbs 15:21-22 tells us,

Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,     but a man of understanding walks straight ahead. Without counsel plans fail,     but with many advisers they succeed. A wise person heeds the advice of people he can trust. A wise Christian seeks the advice of his elders. A wise child looks to his parents for advice. A wise husband talks things over with his wife And a wise women listens to the counsel of her husband.

There are many skilled and trained counselors that can help you with your finances, marriage, guilt, etc..

No matter what issue you need help with, there are people out there who are trained to help you. Counselors who sincerely want to help you.

You see there are many “Good” counselors in this world. But none can compare with the “Wonderful counselor. That’s because - when Jesus came – He came fully understanding the basic problem we face.

Matthew 1:21-22 says Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense,     but a man of understanding walks straight ahead. Without counsel plans fail,     but with many advisers they succeed. One of the repeated pieces of advice

Jesus gave people during his ministry was this: “Go and sin no more” (John 5:14; 8:11) Don’t make excuses for it. Don’t try to ignore it or explain it away. Sin isn’t going to go away on its own. We must deal with it. We must confront it. And the only way we can deal effectively with sin

is to realize that only the Wonderful Counselor

can help us remove sin’s power and guilt.

Paul said it this way:  22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.—1st Corinthians 1:22-25

Jesus is the wonderful counselor because He IS the power and the wisdom of God. Jesus is the one who can give us the power to help us overcome sin… and the wisdom to know how to deal with our sins when we fall prey to them.

The counselors of this world CAN help you with your problems. But they can only help you so much. By contrast, Jesus (the Wonderful Counselor) has the ability to help us deal with the root cause of our problems.

As Hebrews tells us: 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near

to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

You see: Jesus understands our problems.

He’s sympathetic to our failure.

But He’s too good a counselor to just let us do what we want and ignore the consequences. He knows our problems and He has counsel to help us deal with our sins. The key of course is this: listen to… and follow His advice.

So, have you done that? Have you let Jesus be your counselor? Have you asked for His guidance

and His advice in your problems?

God is in the business of providing unmistakable signs. Unfortunately, some people pass God's signs off as just some weird coincidence.

The religious leaders asked for signs out of skepticism & unbelief. Asking for a sign when we need clarification is one thing, but demanding a sign in order for God to prove Himself is not good.

Pharisees and Sadducees often challenged Jesus with questions that tested his authority and knowledge of God’s will.

They did not believe in Jesus as the Messiah or the Son of God, but rather as a clever teacher or a false prophet.

We can trust in Jesus’ words and deeds as sufficient signs of his identity and authority.

We can also examine our own hearts and motives when we ask for signs or doubt God’s promises. Do we seek God out of love or fear? Do we believe in Jesus as the Son of God? Do we follow him with faithfulness or disobedience?

The shepherds believed the angel, followed the sign & saw the evidence. Because they did this, they experienced a joyous event that undoubtedly changed their lives forever. Those who ignore the signs miss out on the joy that would change their lives forever too.

INVITATION: Which do you value more, the toys & trinkets of this life that will eventually crumble into dust, or a relationship with Jesus Christ that will last forever? Do you want to find what you're looking for? Follow the signs to Jesus.