John: We're, so glad that you would tune into our podcast. This week, we're in chapter 25 of the story. We're talking about Jesus as the son of God. He went around proclaiming it, but people didn't really accept it, all that much. So we talk about what that looks like, what that might look like for our present time if Jesus was here now.
Imagine how skeptical we would be. So we dive into that and we dive into some of Jesus' teachings this week. Thanks again for listening. This is my brother's first time here. Don't let the bald heads fool you.
We are both adopted from different families, so just a coincidence. But we've been able to, share some time. They were here last weekend before going down to Corpus Christi to see my sister, and then coming back this weekend on the way back to Arkansas. So they have, probably had their fill of soccer games by now, But certainly glad to have them here and to, to have the great weather to be with them. We, each week, we've been talking about the story, and each week, I point over to the bench and don't hold this up, but if you're if you haven't been with us over the course of, this year, the majority of this year, we've been talking from this book called The Story, which is just a, just kind of a book put together, kind of Bible highlights type of thing.
And so, this week, we talk about chapter 25, and someone asked me recently, you know, we wanna read the Bible together. Where would you start? And I said, this is a great starting point, both for yourselves and if you want to, grab one of these and and give it to a neighbor or a friend. This is a great place to start. Again, this is not the entire Bible.
This is more highlights, big big picture, but this is a great place, and we still have the just a few. If you if you need one, need to buy one. They're about $5, I think, is what they charge. They make it very affordable. But I want to start out this morning with a simple question: What would it be like today if Jesus physically walked around teaching and preaching?
Healing and serving. What would our reaction be? You know, thinking probably for a lot of us, we would think, praise god. Jesus is among us. Right?
Jesus is here. I can go see him. I can, buy tickets to the concert almost. Right? But Jesus, as we read in scripture, did exactly that to not a whole lot of fanfare.
Right? As he talked about sower and seed, prodigal son, and good Samaritan. All the stories that he told, all the parables that he tried to help teach the people. For some people, those things got through, and it was a good experience. I will follow you, Jesus.
But for other people, it was not the same. Think about our current climate and and our culture. We're pretty skeptical people, aren't we? We we don't know what, what to do about anything, really. Does it exist?
Does it not exist? We watched a movie yesterday where, during the movie, they referenced Area 51, and my 10 year old said, What is Area 51? Where do you start with that conversation? Well, some people think, well, dad, did that happen? I I don't know.
I think Bill Clinton said when he got in office that he was gonna find out if anything like that happened. And first time he got in front of a microphone after that, he said, well, if they if it did happen, they're hiding it from me too. And that makes us even more skeptical, doesn't it? Well, he just found something good, didn't he? But we're very skeptical people, and and that's what we meet.
That's who we meet in scripture, don't we? Because Jesus went around teaching and preaching and doing so much good. You would think that would be, oh my goodness. We're glad you're here. The Messiah is here.
Look who he's healing. Look how he's caring for people. But what he got was, who do you think you are? And that's what we're gonna read about this morning. Just a a a a few snippets from the chapter this week in Jesus going around and the opposition that He faced.
We start in John chapter 7. At this point, some of the people in Jerusalem began to ask, isn't this the man they're trying to kill? He's standing in front of us. What are we gonna do about it? Kind of thing.
Here he is speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? You you almost see the the wheels turning here. Right? Everyone is has a decision to make.
Is this man who he says he is or is he a fraud that I kinda think he is? And so as they look to their religious leaders for answers, they say, well, here he is. What are we doing about If we're not stopping him, are we really concluding that he is the Messiah? The sent one from god. He said, but we know where this man is from.
When the Messiah comes, no one will know where he's from. The idea that I remember, we know he's the carpenter's son. He can't be that special. Right? The Messiah is gonna come from god.
This guy comes from Joseph. Then Jesus still teaching in the temple courts cried out, yes. You know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from I am from him, and he sent me.
And they all said okay and became best friends after that statement. Jesus looks at people who are religious. They are trying to be devout religious people and Jesus says, you don't know god. And he made a whole lot of friends out of that. Oh, look at the response.
And at this, they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come. This is a theme throughout John. I think it says about 4 times. Something is about to happen and it says, it didn't happen because it was not Jesus' time yet. Until later on when we know it was Jesus' time, and scripture will tell you that.
But even when the people are just upright they're trying to do an uprising and kill him, he said, no. You can't lay a hand on him until it is his time and look, still many in the crowd believed in him. So for some, it got through. Many believed in him. They said, when the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?
The evidence is in front of them. And some of them are going, Well, this is hard to refuse. How many of them in our world do we say some people believe and some people are very against it? That's what it feels a lot of times. It feels like it's equal on both sides, and we're just all butting heads in the middle.
Right? And that's what Jesus is doing, but some people listen. Some people observe and some get it. Just like the parables we talked about last week. Jesus in the parable of the sower says that very hard thing.
I say things in parables so that seeing these other people may not see. Though hearing, they may not understand, and we go, what, Jesus? I thought Jesus came and he kind of read, you know, children's bible story level stuff, and everybody, you know, I want everybody to get it. Come in here. But for those whose hearts were already set against him, those who just follow Jesus around trying to trap him, trying to catch him.
Jesus said, you're not gonna get it. You're not gonna understand, but those who care, who desire to go deeper, you will understand. Another instance in John 8, the Jews answered him, aren't we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon possessed? And Jesus says, alright. You got me.
No. Does not say that. He said, I'm not possessed by a demon, said Jesus, but I honor my father and you dishonor me. I'm not seeking glory for myself, but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. Very truly, I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.
And they said, alright, I want some of that, right? Again, we read this with with our understanding and with what we know about scripture. But when they heard this, no one will ever see death and how many of us, if somebody said that today, would say, okay. Now I know you're crazy. That's it.
That's the final straw. Now I know you're crazy, which is exactly what they did. Okay. Now we know that you're demon possessed. Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death.
Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are? For then, Abraham was top level, right? And what Jesus is saying is that I'm gonna do something that even Abraham couldn't do.
And they looked at him and said, okay, that's it. That is it. Now, I know you're crazy. Okay? Jesus replied, if I glorify myself, my glory means nothing.
My father, whom you claim as your god, is the one who glorifies me. Did you catch that? I tell you all the time, do not read this as a flat reading. Read this as something that someone actually said. My father, whom you claim as your god you catch that?
Jabbing you. That's what you claim. Whom you claim as your god is the one who glorifies me. Now, watch this. You've you've seen what he's doing.
Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you. So they're they're claiming Jesus is being all self righteous and saying, well, I'm just better than everyone else. And Jesus is saying, no. God is glorifying me.
And if I said I didn't know him, I would be lying. I'd be a liar like you. But I do know him and obey his word. You claim to know god. Jesus does what?
Obey. What's the difference there? Talk to Jesus is not. Well, I'm a Christian. Well, how do you act?
Well, I'm a Christian. Well, how do you love other people? Well, I'm a Christian. Show me your calendar. What are your priorities?
Right? That's what Jesus is doing here. What you claim versus what I do are 2 very different things. I do know Him, and I obey His word. Your father, Abraham, rejoice at the thought of seeing my day.
He saw it and was glad. And they said, you are not 50 years old and you have seen Abraham? You you notice how literal they are? Very, very literal. I am raising one right there.
He's 10 years old. It's 10 o'clock. Dad, it is 9:58. It says it right there, And he's concerned about that. I said it was 10.
It's not 10. But they see how they're on one level, he's on another. They're they're not thinking about what he's saying. They're not thinking of the depth. They're thinking, what are you talking about?
You've seen Abraham. You're not 50. You're not even 50 yet. Abraham's been dead a long time. How have you seen Abraham?
Very truly I tell you, Jesus answered, before Abraham was born, I am. If you've read that passage before, what you know Jesus has just done is claimed He is God. Think about that. A man standing right here before us this morning saying, I am. How many of you are getting up and walking out?
Like, that's my first instinct. Right? Now who is this? He finished this way. At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
Doesn't explain how Jesus does this each time, but somehow he is shielded from all of these things. And so Jesus is trying to tell them who he is. He is trying to tell them where he is from. He is trying to tell them what you claim and what I do are 2 different things, because you are not obeying. You are just claiming.
We say Arkansas because we've got a lot of them. You stand in a chicken house, it doesn't make you a chicken. Right? You stand in a church and call yourself a Christian doesn't mean you are a Christian. Just because you claim Christ does not mean you are following in His ways, correct?
How many of you are even trying to walk and trying to be faithful, you know you understand yourself enough to know there are times that I fear the way. There are times that I am claiming something I am not living. Yes? Am I the only one here? Amen?
It's part of our walk. It's a decision that we all have to make. It's a, the question they're dealing with here is, is Jesus lord is a question we have to answer here today. Right? Do I believe it?
That's what they're answering. Because if you don't believe it, that means one thing. You go and do and you live your life however you wanna live. But if I'm claiming Jesus as lord, that means something completely different. That I don't claim he is lord, that I allow him to be lord of my life.
That Jesus has control of everything, that we don't give him the leftovers. We don't give him what's left over at the end of the meal, at the end of the paycheck, or at the end of the schedule when I think I've gotten all my stuff in there. That's called Jesus Lord means we give Him our lives. There's a famous passage here where Jesus is dealing with Lazarus, and we're gonna, cover most of that right here. So now a man named Lazarus was sick.
He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Do you remember that instance? Why are you doing this? Why are you wasting this?
Why are you allowing this woman to even wipe your feet? So the sisters said word to Jesus, Lord, the one that you love is sick. Can I give you a quick aside, here? One of my professors at Harding. You know in the book of John, it says, The disciple whom Jesus loved over and over.
It never says John. One of my professors who theorizes that maybe it was Lazarus that he was talking about. I'm just going to let you deal with that. Look at this. Lord, the one you love is sick.
Now, there are some problems with that. I need to think through it. But isn't it interesting? That's how they address Jesus. The one you love is sick.
When you heard this, Jesus said, the sickness will not end in death, which is interesting because we know what happened, right? We'll not end in death. No, it is for god's glory so that god's son may be glorified through it. Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was 2 more days.
Now, that doesn't make sense at all, does it? He loved Lazarus. He wants, you know, the best for him. Jesus loved all of them. So when he heard Lazarus was sick, he spreaded to him.
No? He hung out for 2 more days. We've been talking about story and lower story. Right? What we see on earth versus what god has planned, and that's what we're seeing kind of come together here head to head.
Jesus knows, okay, this is for god's glory that he just told us. Right? I can imagine even if he said that, they thought, what? What are you talking about? It says and then he's, he said to his disciples, let us go back to Judea.
But, Rabbi, they said, a short while ago, the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back? Jesus answered, are there not 12 hours of daylight? You gotta think, they're probably looking at him at this point going, anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by the world's light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light. After he had said this, he went on to tell them, our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm going there to wake him up.
Remember how literal they think. Right? His disciples replied, lord, if he sleeps, he will get better. Well, okay. Jesus been speaking of his death but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.
So then he told them plainly, Lazarus is dead. But I thought you said this would not end in death, lord. I think on the disciples times about their confusion about what was going on, but I think I would be riding in the same boat with them, wouldn't you? Like, what? Alright.
Can you just tell me? Write it out for my my prayers with that. Lord, would you make it a flashing sign, an open door, wave at me? Get my attention, and Jesus is always on another level. But he says, Lazarus is dead.
And for your sake, I'm glad I was not there. So that you may believe, but let us go to him. Then Thomas, also known as Didamus, said to the rest of the let us also go that we may die with him. Now Thomas gets a lot of flack as well, does he? After Jesus is raised, he needs proof.
How many of you, if this was happening today, you would be in Thomas Hughes, show me where you were crucified. Yep. I need to know it. But notice, when they think Jesus is being an idiot, Jesus, they just tried to kill you in this area, and Jesus says, all these things, it means he's going back. Thomas says, alright, let's go die with him.
He has faith and he has the, the relationship. Jesus said, wherever you go, I am gonna go. How many of us have that? I hope we do. I hope we pray for that.
Where Jesus, wherever you lead my life, I will go. And that's what Thomas does here. Skip skip on 9 to 28. After, she had said this, she went back and called her sister, Mary, aside. Again, Jesus has arrived, where they are.
The teacher is here, she said, and is asking for you. When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews had who had been with Mary in the house comforting her noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
Look at the faith she has in her lord. I know that if you had been here, you could have saved him. And Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and trouble the humanity of Jesus. At the people he loved, when they mourn, he weeps and mourns. And he does that for us as well.
Where have you laid him? He asked. Come and see, Lord, they replied. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, see how he loved him.
The son whom Jesus loved. But someone said, could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying? Now remember, Jesus stayed 2 more days instead of going to Lazarus. What are you doing, Jesus? Jesus once more deeply moved, came to the tomb.
It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. Take away the stone, he said. But, Lord, said Martha, the sister of the dead man, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there 4 days. So they have the faith to know, Jesus, you could have saved him from death. But just like we do today, we almost feel like death is the end.
You could've saved him before he got there. But after that, it's over. Right? Now with Jesus. And Jesus said, did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of god?
So they took away the stone, and Jesus looked up and said, father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here so that they may believe that you sent me.' When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, Lazarus, come out. The dead men came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen and a cloth around his face. And Jesus said to them, take off the grave clothes and let him go. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life, That in him, it doesn't end in death.
And that's why we're here, is it not? That our lord savior was not someone who just came for a little bit and that was the end of all things, but Jesus is lord and savior in a in a much bigger way that that when we put our trust in him, we believe in him. When I we say, lord, you are lord of my life. We put on him in baptism. We are saying, Jesus has this kind of power.
And I know that that helped me get through the the canceled surgery, the little things that pick at us, the big things that interrupt our lives surprisingly at time. But to know that Jesus is lord, that he has the power. Jesus says in Matthew 16 to his disciples, he says, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world yet forfeit their soul?
Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the son of man is going to come in his father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. Truly, I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the son of man coming in his kingdom. Jesus tells his disciples, lay down your lives for me. And Jesus was that perfect example.
Jesus is willing to deny himself. As Scott mentioned earlier, the the prayer of Jesus, would you let this cup pass from me? Showing the humanity that there are desires that we have in this world. I I don't desire pain. I I don't desire to go through that period of time that is so difficult.
But how many times do we get on the other side and see how god has worked tremendously through those things. That god is there for us. We in the midst of it, again, there's so much chaos. I think we don't we don't grasp it. But after that it passed, we see god has the power.
God is working to bring about this change in relationship with all of us. I don't understand what scripture tells us to count it all joy when we go through trials of various kinds. Do you? That's a thing to say, but my goodness in the middle of it, I'm not gonna come up to you and tell you that. If you've been diagnosed with this week, I'm not gonna show up at your house and say, count it all joy.
But I think we'll count it all joy at some point in the future. I believe god, because of who god is, will work out things for our good. And that even if at the end of that sickness or that issue, things don't turn out the way you want, that maybe even someone passes. We serve a God where death is not the end. And when we go to the funeral, when we go to the grave, when the stone is placed in front of the entrance, we are not going to the end because God is still in control.
I love the scripture when, Jesus corrects, when god corrects and says, when you're talking about some of these people as, you you were the god or they you know, you were the god of I or Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am the god. I still am. I love thinking about that. Thinking about the people who whose faith impact us, whose faith really are the reason we are here today.
Can you think of those people in your life? I think about this a lot in different ways because I am adopted, and I've gotten to meet my biological family. And so for me, a lot of those questions are, where would I be had I not been adopted? Where would I be? How would I answer some of these same questions?
Who is god? What is it about in my life? But in my family, those who adopted me, those are the only family I've ever known. I could think of, my dad's mom. At her funeral, they talked about you couldn't have a conversation with her.
If she didn't know you, it was gonna come back around to who is god. Do you know god? I think people faith like that, don't you? Now my nanny also was kind of, spunky. And, she told my mom at one point that she was gonna come back and haunt her.
So, you know, there is that. I have also told my boys that. I hope the lord lets me do that to them. The people have faith, and we stand on their shoulders today because all the same conversations that we read about and we've read about this morning. Jesus, who are you?
Are you who you claim to be? You have to answer that for yourself. I can't answer. No one can answer it for you. If you don't believe Jesus is lord, if you don't believe he exists and didn't come, there's no reason to be here.
But this is belief. It means everything. In off time invitation, we're gonna, Terry's got a song picked out. We'd love to pray with you if that that journey with Jesus hasn't gone the way it needs to go. If you haven't begun that journey, we'd love to see you, put on Christ in baptism today and begin to walk with him.
You're you're in a room full of people who are doing that right now and would love to come alongside you. So if you have any needs this morning, would you come? We'll stay on this side.