Jeff Miller

March 2, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Word

Jeff Miller

March 2, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

4 Reasons Why You Refuse
to Come to Jesus: (John 5:30-47)

It's NOT because of "Lack of Evidence . (John 5:30-40)
3 Ways God the Father Bears Witness about Jesus:
1. Through John the Baptist's testimony. (John 5:33-35)
2. Through Jesus' miracles. (John 5:36)
3. Through God's Written Word. (John 5:37-40)

Because you don't Love God. (John 5:41-43)
John 3:19 - And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

Romans 1:21 - For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Because you're Self-centered . (John 5:44)
Because you don't believe God's Word . (John 5:45-47)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:00-00:02
Open up your Bibles to John chapter 5.
00:03-00:12
And while you're turning there, just to get us all in the context of the passage, in John chapter 5, Jesus healed an invalid on the Sabbath.
00:12-00:16
And the Jewish leaders were now literally wanting to kill Jesus.
00:17-00:19
For two reasons. He broke their Sabbath rule.
00:20-00:24
One of their Sabbath rules. Not God's. One of their Sabbath rules.
00:24-00:26
The second reason is he made himself equal with God.
00:27-00:32
And Jesus responded, this was last week's message, Jesus responded by declaring that He is God.
00:32-00:43
He does nothing of His own accord, He gives life, He's the ultimate judge, He deserves the same honor as the Father, and someday He's going to empty every cemetery, and He's going to resurrect everyone.
00:44-00:56
And our passage today is Jesus continuing His teaching to these leaders who are so angry with Him for healing on the Sabbath and equating Himself with God.
00:56-01:06
John 5. Before we turn there, our series this year is called "Knowing Jesus." Right? And that's our goal as we go through John.
01:07-01:17
Every passage we look at, we're asking, "What does Jesus want us to know about Him so that we can know Him in a deeper way?" That's our theme this year.
01:18-01:26
And if you've been following along with us, if you spend any time in God's Word, The question this morning is this, why wouldn't somebody want to receive Jesus Christ?
01:27-01:30
Why wouldn't somebody want to receive Jesus Christ?
01:31-01:34
I mean, I want you to consider for a second what Jesus offers.
01:35-01:35
Think about this.
01:36-01:38
Jesus takes away our sin.
01:38-01:40
He makes us totally forgiven.
01:41-01:45
He gives us his presence within us to guide us and to comfort us.
01:45-01:47
He promises perfect provision in all things.
01:48-01:50
He puts us in a community of faith.
01:50-01:57
He promises heaven, which is the glorious existence, forever in His presence.
01:58-02:04
And He promises so much more, but everything that He promised, He made available to us because He died on our behalf.
02:05-02:09
He willingly laid down His life to die a horrible death.
02:09-02:11
He gave us the free gift, the free gifts.
02:12-02:13
Judgment is cancelled.
02:14-02:15
There's no fear of death.
02:15-02:16
There's no fear of hell.
02:17-02:20
for the person who receives Jesus Christ.
02:20-02:24
So the question this morning is, why wouldn't somebody take that deal?
02:25-02:26
Think about it.
02:26-02:33
According to the Bible, what Jesus Christ offers, you have everything to gain.
02:33-02:37
And the only thing you have to lose, really, is the wrath of God.
02:37-02:40
That's really the only thing you're losing in this transaction.
02:41-02:45
It is all upside coming to Jesus Christ.
02:45-02:45
It's all upside.
02:46-02:50
So the question is in light of all of this, why would you hear this?
02:51-02:59
Why would you hear the Gospel message of what God has done for you in Jesus Christ and His love and His mercy?
03:00-03:06
And how can you hear that and still refuse to come to Jesus Christ?
03:07-03:09
Why would somebody say no?
03:10-03:16
You know, Jesus tells us very clearly in this passage we're looking at today why people say no to Him.
03:17-03:21
Why people would look at what's offered, say I'm not interested.
03:22-03:23
He tells us very clearly.
03:23-03:28
So in your outline if you're taking notes, and I always encourage you to do that, here's what we're looking at today.
03:28-03:31
Four reasons why you refuse to come to Jesus Christ.
03:31-03:33
I say you second person.
03:33-03:39
I'm talking to the person now who's been coming to church interested in what's going on but hasn't received Christ yet.
03:39-03:47
Or the person that listens to this podcast that Murph puts online and has been listening to this series and hasn't come to Christ yet.
03:47-03:49
Why haven't they? I'm talking to you.
03:50-03:55
According to Jesus, this isn't my opinion, this is what Jesus said, here's why you haven't come to Christ.
03:56-03:59
Number one, we're going to take the negative out first.
03:59-04:01
It's not because of lack of evidence.
04:02-04:03
This is where Jesus starts.
04:03-04:06
Why would you refuse Jesus? Start here.
04:06-04:07
It's not because of lack of evidence.
04:08-04:08
Look at verse 30.
04:09-04:11
Jesus said, "I can do nothing on my own.
04:11-04:21
I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." That was last week's sermon, verse 19.
04:22-04:23
We talked a lot about that.
04:24-04:26
Jesus lived in total submission to the Father.
04:27-04:39
Verse 31, Jesus says, "If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true." What Jesus means by that is if I'm just testifying about myself, as far as you're concerned, it's not true.
04:40-04:44
I mean, obviously everything that Jesus said is literally the word of God, right?
04:44-04:51
But Jesus was saying to them, "Look, from your perspective, "for me to testify about myself, yeah, I get that.
04:51-05:02
"As far as you're concerned, "my word about myself means nothing." Verse 32, Jesus said, "There is another who bears witness about me, "and I know that the testimony he bears about me is true.
05:03-05:08
"Someone else bears witness about me, "and it's the best witness ever." Jesus is referring to God the Father.
05:09-05:14
And in the passage that follows here, he's saying God the Father bears witness about Jesus in three ways.
05:14-05:15
We're gonna go through these quickly.
05:16-05:17
Here's the point.
05:17-05:18
Why would you refuse Jesus?
05:18-05:21
Jesus is pointing out here, it's not because of lack of evidence.
05:21-05:24
Like, well, where's the evidence you are who you say you are?
05:24-05:25
And Jesus says, well, God the Father's given you three.
05:26-05:28
All right, and here they are, jot these down.
05:29-05:31
Three ways God the Father bears witness about Jesus.
05:32-05:35
First of all, through John the Baptist's testimony, right?
05:35-05:36
Through John the Baptist's testimony.
05:37-05:38
Look at verse 33.
05:38-05:42
Jesus says, "You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
05:42-05:48
Not that the testimony I receive is for man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
05:49-06:00
He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light." Here's the thing, when we read the Bible, I think we can sort of look at John the Baptist as this minor character.
06:01-06:06
But understand in the first century, John the Baptist was huge.
06:06-06:09
He was the first prophet to show up in over 400 years.
06:09-06:13
And everybody in this day acknowledged that John the Baptist was a prophet.
06:13-06:16
Everybody had John the Baptist fever.
06:16-06:19
Read Matthew three, read Luke three, read John chapter one.
06:19-06:20
We already covered that.
06:20-06:23
But John the Baptist wasn't a minor character.
06:23-06:29
John the Baptist in those days, like everybody was just like crazy about this guy because he was so fascinating.
06:29-06:31
He's such a powerful speaker for the Lord.
06:32-06:38
He was like, everybody's reaction to him was sort of like, It was like Elvis.
06:39-06:40
Okay, let's try another one.
06:40-06:42
He was like the Beatles.
06:43-06:46
Okay, apparently my illustrations are a little dated.
06:47-06:51
So I had to do a little research to get the younger generation.
06:51-06:53
John the Baptist was like Justin Bieber.
06:54-06:56
All right, you tell me, okay, who's the guy then?
06:57-06:58
What's the hot, what is it?
06:59-07:00
All right, so mine aren't so dumb.
07:00-07:02
All right, you get the point, right?
07:03-07:04
Everybody was crazy about this guy.
07:05-07:09
Like, they were going out to him in droves to hear him preach.
07:10-07:22
And Jesus said, "He was a lamp, and you all enjoyed basking for a while under his light." Jesus goes, "You all acknowledge this guy was legit." Oh, and by the way, what was John the Baptist's message?
07:22-07:24
What did John the Baptist talk about?
07:24-07:25
I'm going to give you a few things.
07:25-07:35
John 1.29, John the Baptist said, "Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." John 3.30, John the Baptist said, He must increase. I must decrease.
07:36-07:46
John 3:36, John the Baptist said, "Believe in Jesus Christ, the return of life, or you'll face the wrath of God." And Jesus here is saying, you all thought John the Baptist was legit.
07:46-07:49
And his whole ministry was about highlighting Me.
07:49-07:50
Pointing to Me.
07:50-07:51
Driving people to Me.
07:52-07:57
Okay, so first of all, if you're looking for evidence, you know this guy that you were all crazy about?
07:58-08:00
That's the first evidence that God gave you.
08:00-08:01
He was pointing to Me.
08:02-08:08
Letter B, the second way that God the Father bears witness about Jesus is through Jesus' miracles. Look at verse 36.
08:08-08:12
Jesus says, "But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John.
08:12-08:28
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." Another way that God has authenticated the person of Jesus Christ is through His miracles.
08:28-08:30
The miracles were a sign from the Father.
08:30-08:32
We've talked about this before.
08:32-08:35
The purpose of the miracles wasn't to dazzle people.
08:35-08:44
Like Jesus wasn't some like David Blaine street magician like, "Hey, check this out. I'm gonna get your card." And that wasn't the purpose of the miracles.
08:44-08:50
The miracles were to help people that were far away from faith make that first step.
08:51-08:51
Right?
08:51-08:58
Like remember what Nicodemus said in chapter three, verse two when Nicodemus came to Jesus, he said, no one can do what you do unless God is with them.
08:58-08:59
And that's the thing about Jesus' miracle.
09:00-09:03
You realize nobody ever denied Jesus' miracle.
09:04-09:04
Read your Bible.
09:04-09:06
Nobody ever denied Jesus' miracles.
09:06-09:11
It wasn't like somebody said, well, Jesus fed multitudes, and there were a group of people that were like, no, he didn't.
09:11-09:15
Or, you know, Jesus raised his widow's son from the dead, and people were like, no, he didn't.
09:16-09:17
Like, that never happened.
09:17-09:19
Everybody acknowledged Jesus' miracles.
09:19-09:22
Actually, the only miracle they denied was his resurrection.
09:23-09:31
But that's different, you see, because they actually fabricated a lie to cover it because they couldn't cope with the fact that Jesus resurrected as he said he would.
09:32-09:34
His miracles were never denied by anyone.
09:34-09:36
That's what Jesus is pointing out here.
09:36-09:39
Like you've already seen some of the works and we're gonna see more.
09:40-09:42
In fact, Jesus' miracles made the Jewish leaders panic.
09:43-09:47
If you read chapter 11, verse 47, we're gonna get there, Lord willing, down the road.
09:47-09:50
But the Jewish leaders got together and they said, "What are we going to do?
09:50-09:53
"He performs many signs." The miracles had confounded them.
09:53-09:54
What are we going to do with this guy?
09:55-09:59
We want to just shut him up as a madman and discard him and get rid of him.
09:59-10:02
And he does these incredible things.
10:03-10:06
Jesus said that's one of the ways that God the Father bears witness about him.
10:07-10:11
Number three, I'm sorry, letter C, letter C, through God's written word.
10:12-10:14
This is an argument from lesser to greater.
10:14-10:16
This isn't like last and least.
10:16-10:18
This is last and most important.
10:18-10:21
I'm getting to the key part of my argument here.
10:22-10:23
through God's written Word.
10:23-10:25
Look at v. 37-38.
10:25-10:29
Jesus said, "The Father who sent Me has Himself borne witness about Me.
10:29-10:35
His voice you've never heard, His form you've never seen, and you do not have His Word abiding in you.
10:36-10:45
For you do not believe the One whom He has sent." Jesus said you don't know God, and you don't know His Word, because you don't believe in who He sent.
10:45-10:53
V. 39, Jesus says, "You search the Scriptures Because you think in them you have eternal life.
10:53-10:57
And it is they that bear witness about me." You see that?
10:58-11:01
These people, they would have had the Old Testament memorized.
11:02-11:09
Jesus says you're looking to the Word for eternal life, but you're missing the forest for the trees.
11:10-11:15
Because understand, it's not the paper and ink that save you.
11:15-11:18
It's who this is talking about that saves you.
11:19-11:24
It's sort of like this, imagine now, my wife and I, I've known my wife since high school.
11:25-11:27
Let's just pretend for a second, we're using our imaginations.
11:27-11:29
I want you to pretend for a second, I didn't know her from high school.
11:30-11:43
But through some very weird set of circumstances that only exist in our imagination, somebody came to me in my 20s and said, "Hey, I know you don't know this girl, "but here's a picture of her, "and you're going to marry her, okay?
11:45-11:49
"Without any shadow of a doubt, "you're going to marry this girl." What do you think I'm gonna do with this picture?
11:49-11:51
I'm gonna be studying it and looking at it.
11:51-11:54
I'm gonna have it up in my car and on my desk at work.
11:54-11:57
And I'm just gonna be constantly like, why?
11:57-12:00
Because this picture tells me a lot about this girl, right?
12:00-12:04
I can see her attitudes right here in this picture.
12:04-12:09
You see the point of this picture was to show me what she looks like.
12:09-12:10
And she's sitting over here.
12:10-12:12
Show me what she looks like when she shows up.
12:13-12:14
So this is Jesus' point.
12:15-12:21
He's like, "I'm here, and you guys have the picture in your hand, and you can't even make the connection.
12:22-12:24
That's a picture of me. You don't see it.
12:24-12:29
You can't receive me because you haven't connected the dots." Scriptures are all about...
12:29-12:32
When we say "Scriptures" here, we're talking about the Old Testament.
12:32-12:35
Jesus was talking about the Old Testament because He was writing the New Testament with His life.
12:36-12:38
The Old Testament is all about Jesus.
12:38-12:44
It talks about His birth, it talks about His life, it talks about His death, it talks about His resurrection, it talks about His future reign over all the earth.
12:44-12:57
That's why when the New Testament was written, you know the New Testament actually quotes the Old Testament 312 times, and references the Old Testament about 530 times.
12:58-12:58
Why?
12:58-13:08
Because they're saying he's here, the Christ is here, and we've had this picture of him, and now we see him, and it's connecting the person to the picture.
13:09-13:14
That's what Jesus is pointing out here, like you missed it, I'm standing right here, and you don't recognize.
13:15-13:16
Like, all right, what's the point?
13:16-13:16
Here's the point.
13:17-13:32
The point is Jesus is saying, despite all the evidence, despite everything the Father has shown you through John the Baptist, through the miracles, through God's written word, despite all the evidence, verse 40, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
13:32-13:44
And if you're sitting here and you're listening to these messages, you attend another church and you're listening to the messages and you haven't truly come to faith in Christ, It's not a matter of you can't.
13:44-13:45
That's not the issue.
13:46-13:47
The issue is you won't.
13:47-13:55
That's why Jesus said, you see in verse 40, He said, "Refuse, refuse." That's not unable, that's unwilling.
13:56-13:59
I have no desire to, I'm not going to do it.
13:59-14:02
And Jesus is pointing out here that it's not due to lack of evidence.
14:03-14:04
It's not due to lack of information.
14:04-14:08
In fact, it's in the face of overwhelming evidence.
14:09-14:10
We're gonna talk more about that in a second.
14:10-14:13
and you're gonna see Jesus circle back to that in the text.
14:13-14:15
But that gets us back to the original question.
14:15-14:18
Why would someone refuse to come to Jesus?
14:19-14:20
He says, "Well, it's not because of lack of evidence.
14:21-14:25
Let's get that out of the way first." Okay, so that's not what it is.
14:26-14:28
Then can you please tell us what it is?
14:28-14:30
He continues and he tells you exactly what it is.
14:31-14:36
Number two, you know why someone, why you will refuse to come to Jesus Christ?
14:36-14:37
It's because you don't love God.
14:38-14:40
Again, not my opinion, Jesus' opinion.
14:40-14:41
And look at verse 41.
14:42-14:48
Jesus said, "I do not receive glory from people, but I know you do not have the love of God within you.
14:49-14:52
I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me.
14:52-14:58
If another comes in his own name, you will receive him." He says you don't have the love of God in you.
14:59-15:01
Meaning, you don't have a relationship with God.
15:01-15:07
Maybe you have dead religious rules that you follow that you think make God happy.
15:07-15:08
You just follow the rules.
15:09-15:12
I'm a churchgoer. I'm a pew sitter.
15:13-15:15
But I'm not a Christ follower.
15:15-15:18
Jesus says you won't come to Christ because you don't love God.
15:19-15:20
How can you say that?
15:21-15:24
Gifts are an expression of love, aren't they?
15:24-15:27
You don't accept gifts from people you don't know, do you?
15:28-15:28
Do you?
15:29-15:30
Do you accept gifts from people you don't know?
15:31-15:32
I sure hope not.
15:33-15:37
You don't have the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ because you don't know God.
15:38-15:48
"Well, that's a pretty hard statement to hear." So if it's true, if I don't love God, if I don't truly love God, if I don't truly have a relationship with God, what's keeping me from loving God?
15:48-15:50
I'm gonna give you a couple of things that keep people from loving God.
15:51-15:52
Again, this is from the Word of God.
15:53-15:55
Jot these down, here's two things that keep people from loving God.
15:56-15:58
Number one is they love their sin more.
15:59-15:59
Why don't I love God?
15:59-16:02
Because you love sin more, that's why you don't love God.
16:02-16:04
Jesus said that in John 3:19.
16:04-16:09
Light has come into the world, And people love darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
16:11-16:12
Here's why you don't love God.
16:12-16:14
Because you love your sin more.
16:15-16:16
You love your sin more than you love God.
16:17-16:36
Whatever that sin is, whether it's love of money or pursuit of money, whether you're in a relationship that you know you shouldn't be in, whether it's an addiction to a substance or to a person or to something else, whatever it is, you love your sin more than you love God's Son.
16:36-16:37
Is that me?
16:38-16:39
Well, what dominates your thoughts?
16:40-16:41
What dominates your thoughts?
16:41-16:41
God or your sin?
16:42-16:43
And that's what you love.
16:43-16:44
What receives money from you?
16:45-16:46
God or your sin?
16:46-16:47
That shows you what you love.
16:48-16:48
What gets your time?
16:49-16:50
God or your sin?
16:50-16:51
That shows you what you love.
16:52-16:54
So you love your sin more than you love God.
16:54-16:55
That's one reason.
16:55-16:57
One thing that keeps you from loving God.
16:57-16:58
Here's another one.
16:59-17:00
This is gonna sound weird, but follow me on this.
17:02-17:03
You're going to see this.
17:04-17:06
Here's another reason people don't love God.
17:06-17:07
It's because they refuse to be thankful.
17:08-17:09
They refuse to be thankful.
17:10-17:11
Again, not my opinion.
17:12-17:13
Look at Romans 1.
17:13-17:19
Verse 21, it says, "Although they knew God, they did not honor Him as God..." See that next phrase?
17:20-17:29
"...or give thanks to Him." Like, I know that there is a God, a higher power, a something out there somewhere, but they didn't want to honor Him, and they weren't thankful to Him.
17:29-17:33
But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
17:33-17:35
Keep that verse up here for a second.
17:35-17:38
You need to see that thankfulness is a total game changer.
17:39-17:40
Because there are two kinds of people.
17:40-17:43
There are people who are thankful to God for what He's provided.
17:43-17:46
They realize that God has given us so much.
17:46-17:47
You realize God has given us so much.
17:48-17:53
He's given us family and friends and church and breath and food and happiness.
17:54-17:56
And God has given us so many wonderful things.
17:57-18:02
And there are people that are like, I thank God every day for the big things and the little things that He's given us.
18:02-18:03
Thank you God.
18:03-18:07
But on the other hand, there are people that refuse to acknowledge that God has provided anything.
18:08-18:10
Those people either say, "It's all me.
18:10-18:11
It's all me.
18:11-18:12
I do it all myself.
18:12-18:12
I earned.
18:12-18:13
I worked.
18:13-18:15
I did it myself." No thought of God.
18:15-18:24
Or, if they do on some level acknowledge the existence of God, their attitude is, "Well, He's never done nothing for me.
18:24-18:25
What's God done for me?
18:26-18:27
Spoiled child.
18:28-18:29
It's God done for me.
18:30-18:32
We see in Romans 1 what Paul says about that.
18:33-18:33
Being an ingrate.
18:35-18:36
It leads to what?
18:36-18:38
They don't give thanks, so what does it lead to?
18:39-18:41
You're futile in your thinking and your hearts are darkened.
18:42-18:45
A.K.A. you don't love God.
18:46-18:47
And that's why you refuse to come to Jesus.
18:48-18:49
You don't love God.
18:50-18:51
You love your sin more.
18:51-18:53
You live this life of being an ingrate.
18:53-18:54
Whatever.
18:54-18:55
But God's not number one.
18:55-18:56
You're not going to come to Jesus.
18:58-19:05
Number three, more reasons why you refuse to come to Jesus, not because of lack of evidence, it is because you don't love God.
19:05-19:08
Number three, it's because you're self-centered.
19:08-19:10
Yeah, it's not getting any more comfortable here.
19:11-19:12
Look at verse 44.
19:13-19:23
Jesus said, "How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?" Now hang on a second, let's look at this verse.
19:23-19:34
He says, "Okay, how can you believe when you receive glory from one another?" We get that but what's this last phrase mean you do not seek the glory that comes from the only God What is the glory that comes from God? What is that?
19:35-19:52
I think a better question is who is that the glory that comes from God is Jesus Christ We had some time we could walk through the Bible and I can show you that biblically But I believe that's what Jesus is talking about here talking about himself Jesus is how can you believe when you're so self-centered?
19:53-19:59
That you want to get glory from other people instead of give it to the one who deserves it you care so much about what?
19:59-20:25
Others think about you You'd rather have the applause of man than the approval of God you'd rather Put yourself in the position of God and receive glory Instead of putting yourself in the position of a worshiper and give glory And then being around Jesus makes you realize I can't have my ego Be my God and at the same time allow Jesus Christ to be my God There's only room on that throne for one person.
20:26-20:26
You are Jesus.
20:27-20:30
You realize, "I can't live for myself, and I can't live for Him.
20:31-20:33
There's not room for two on the throne.
20:33-20:34
There's room for one.
20:34-20:40
One has to go." For many people, they refuse to come to Jesus Christ because they're so self-centered.
20:40-20:43
They just think everything revolves around them.
20:43-20:44
That's really the root of all sin.
20:45-20:46
The root of all sin is selfishness.
20:46-20:47
That's your whole world.
20:47-20:48
It's just all about me.
20:49-20:50
Living your whole life without a thought towards God.
20:50-20:51
Everything's about you.
20:52-20:54
How can I look good? How can people applaud me?
20:54-20:56
You refuse to come to Christ.
20:57-21:01
And finally, number four, four reasons why you refuse to come to Jesus.
21:02-21:07
And again, I believe this, just like the previous list, I believe this is last and most important.
21:08-21:09
It's because you don't believe God's Word.
21:10-21:11
Because you don't believe God's Word.
21:11-21:14
Again, I told you, Jesus circles back to this concept.
21:14-21:15
Look at verse 45.
21:16-21:20
Jesus says, "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father.
21:21-21:26
"There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you've set your hope.
21:26-21:30
For if you believed Moses, you would believe me.
21:30-21:31
For he wrote of me.
21:32-21:38
But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" Jesus is talking about Moses.
21:38-21:43
That was sort of just a figure of speech to refer to the Old Testament Scriptures.
21:43-21:45
Understand, they didn't call it the Old Testament.
21:45-21:48
They called it the Scriptures, or they called it the Law and the Prophets.
21:48-21:52
And sometimes they would just call it Moses, because Moses wrote so much of it.
21:53-21:58
But Jesus said this, "The things that Moses wrote, again, it's all about me.
21:59-22:01
Moses wrote about me back in the day.
22:02-22:07
And if you don't believe him, you're not going to believe me." I know this is a lot of information, all right?
22:07-22:15
So turn to the person next to you and grab their sleeve and just give a little tug and say, "Are you still with us?" Go ahead. Go ahead. Come on.
22:16-22:19
Why are you guys all shy today? Come on. This is serious.
22:19-22:25
Here's the point Jesus is making, and this is so relevant in our day.
22:26-22:29
And church, I'm telling you this because I've talked to you.
22:29-22:38
I've been witnessing to this guy at work for six months, and I've been talking to my neighbor for two years, and I don't understand why he won't come to Jesus.
22:38-22:42
Jesus is telling you why, and this is the big one here, people.
22:42-22:50
Look, we think that if somebody doesn't believe in Jesus, What they need is more information. Right?
22:51-22:52
They need more information.
22:53-22:56
So here's another track. Here's a Ravi Zacharias book.
22:56-22:58
Here's a John Piper book.
22:58-23:02
And we're just going to keep giving them information, and eventually they're going to come to Christ.
23:03-23:05
But do you realize here Jesus is saying the opposite is true?
23:05-23:06
You don't need more information.
23:07-23:16
Jesus said if you don't believe the truth that you know of, you're not going to believe in more truth and deeper truth when you hear it.
23:17-23:30
And we can look at these people in this passage and be like, "Oh, those fools, they were standing right in the face of Jesus, and they wouldn't believe Him." But I've got to tell you, church, this is where it stings you and I the most, because we have full revelation.
23:30-23:34
You know the big difference between us and the people that Jesus was talking to here?
23:34-23:39
We're on the other side of the cross and the empty tomb, right?
23:39-23:42
We know all about that. We know how that went down.
23:42-23:48
We have the full Word of God clearly outlining the whole story.
23:48-23:56
We have all these Holy Spirit-inspired New Testament letters telling us the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
23:57-24:03
And like the people Jesus is talking to here, you refuse to come to Jesus because you don't believe God's Word.
24:04-24:05
You just don't believe it.
24:06-24:07
And you're like, "Yeah, how does that happen?
24:08-24:13
How does that happen that we just don't believe God's Word?" We've not been paying attention.
24:14-24:15
What do we do with the Bible?
24:16-24:19
We reinterpret it to match what we want to believe.
24:20-24:22
We question it. We deny it. We twist it.
24:22-24:26
We will do anything with the Bible, but believe it.
24:26-24:29
And you have to see that that's happening in more and more and more churches.
24:30-24:33
The Bible says this, but what it really means is that.
24:33-24:38
And you don't really understand the cultural context in which Paul wrote this.
24:39-24:41
We'll do anything with the Bible, but believe it.
24:42-24:43
That's Jesus' point here.
24:44-24:49
Jesus says when you reject the source material, how can you believe in Jesus?
24:50-25:00
Somebody's like, "I don't believe the Bible." I'm like, "Well, then evangelism conversation is over." Because if you don't believe this, what am I gonna tell you that's going to bring you to Christ?
25:01-25:07
And I'm gonna tell you, church, can you not see how Satan is having a party right now?
25:08-25:17
Satan is laughing hysterically right now, I'm going to remind you, if you were with us through the study of Revelation last year, his laughing doesn't last forever, right?
25:17-25:23
But I've got to tell you, right now, he is laughing hysterically at what's happening in this culture.
25:24-25:29
The way that he's gotten people, just like Eve, to doubt and deny the Word of God.
25:29-25:34
He has to be laughing, because he's knocking them all out right in order.
25:34-25:35
Right in order!
25:35-25:36
What's the first verse of the Bible?
25:36-25:37
What is it?
25:37-25:38
In the beginning.
25:38-25:39
What does it say?
25:40-25:42
God created the heavens and the earth.
25:42-25:44
And what has Satan done with that?
25:45-25:47
Generations of evolutionary teaching.
25:47-25:48
No, no, no, no. God didn't create.
25:49-25:53
We are a product of chemical processes through evolution.
25:53-25:57
And we don't believe in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
25:57-25:58
We don't believe that.
25:58-26:02
And then you maybe go a couple of paragraphs or even flip one page.
26:03-26:07
The next big thing we see is the Bible says that God created the male and female.
26:08-26:11
Right? What has Satan convinced our culture?
26:11-26:15
What's male and female? You are whatever gender you want to be.
26:15-26:21
Right? Whatever you want to be. You're born a man, you want to call yourself a woman, I'll call you a woman too, and I'm going to applaud that.
26:22-26:25
And Satan's like, "Okay, what's next?" Right?
26:26-26:31
Oh yeah, here's what's next. God says marriage is to be between a male and a female.
26:32-26:41
Where's our culture at on that? Marriage can be between a woman and a woman, Two men, three women, I've even seen people trying to marry their pets.
26:42-26:43
And Satan laughs.
26:44-26:50
Oh, and then you turn just a little bit further in Genesis, when God promises Adam and Eve that sin brings death.
26:51-26:52
And the ultimate form of death is hell.
26:53-26:57
And what is the lie that Satan has gotten people, even churches, to swallow today?
26:57-27:08
"There's no hell, come on." "Oh, the boogeyman that the church has been promoting." "Oh, scared of hell." "There's no hell. There's no hell." God's too nice to send anybody to hell.
27:08-27:16
And Satan's just going right through the book, and he's gotten us to deny and disbelieve every single thing that God said.
27:17-27:31
So is it any wonder, when you don't believe what God's Word says on these matters, you get to the part about Jesus, the Creator, who shows God's full picture of marriage, the One who came to save us from death and hell, and we're like, "Psh, I don't believe that either.
27:32-27:38
I mean, why would I believe in Jesus if I don't believe all that fairy tale stuff in the beginning of the book?
27:38-27:39
And Satan laughs.
27:40-27:51
And it's just as Jesus said to this audience, "You haven't believed the foundation, so you won't believe in the full revelation, because it's all about Jesus. All of Him.
27:51-27:56
And that's why you refuse to come to Him." You know, I was thinking this week about these questions.
27:57-28:04
First, obviously, the big question addressed in the passage, I was thinking this week, "Why wouldn't someone come to Jesus?
28:04-28:07
Why would somebody see all this and reject it?
28:07-28:13
Why wouldn't someone come to Jesus? Why wouldn't they? Right? Why wouldn't they?" And then I got thinking about another question.
28:13-28:15
"Why would somebody come to Jesus?" Right?
28:15-28:17
And I was thinking about those two questions.
28:17-28:22
"Why wouldn't somebody come to Jesus?" And then, "Why would someone come to Jesus?" And then it hit me.
28:23-28:25
Do you realize those questions have the exact same answer.
28:25-28:26
Did you know that?
28:26-28:28
Those questions have the exact same answer.
28:28-28:29
Why wouldn't somebody come to Jesus?
28:30-28:31
Why would somebody come to Jesus?
28:32-28:34
Same answer, because He changes people.
28:35-28:38
And if you see your need for it, you'll gladly embrace Him.
28:39-28:41
But if you don't want to change, you'll avoid Him.
28:42-28:52
But in any case, let's stop pretending and making up silly excuses why I have these intellectual sounding obstacles to the faith.
28:52-28:56
Jesus tells us here exactly why people won't receive Him.
28:56-28:58
It's not lack of evidence.
28:59-29:00
It's because you don't love God.
29:01-29:02
Because you're self-centered.
29:02-29:05
It's because you've refused to believe God's Word.
29:06-29:10
But if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you right now, this can be a different day for you.
29:10-29:12
You can say, "You know what? I see it now.
29:12-29:17
I see the things that Jesus said to these Jewish leaders.
29:18-29:22
These things are relevant in my own life." And you can reevaluate everything.
29:23-29:24
I'd like you to bow your heads with me, please.
29:25-29:30
Father, we cry out to You, because we have the complete inability to change anyone.
29:31-29:41
Father, we see from Your Word, it's not a matter of giving people more information, or a guilt trip, or trying to scare them out of hell, or something like that, Father.
29:41-29:45
This is a supernatural thing that has to happen.
29:45-29:47
And God, only You can do that.
29:47-29:58
So we pray, Father, for those who are listening, that You would remove that veil, that you would awaken in them a hunger to truly come and receive Jesus Christ.
29:58-30:04
Father, I pray for those in this church who have been witnessing, and sharing, and encouraging.
30:05-30:07
Father, I pray that they would not lose heart in doing that.
30:08-30:15
I pray also, Father, that they would spend as much time talking to you about it as they do sharing with the people they're trying to bring to Christ.
30:16-30:19
Father, we thank you for the clarity of your Word.
30:20-30:23
We thank You, Father, for the transforming power of the Gospel.
30:24-30:25
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 5:30-47

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
What 3 things did the Father give as evidence of Jesus’ identity? Why did Jesus find it necessary to point these out (John 5:31)? Which one seems most important to you?
Read Romans 1:21. What is the connection between thankfulness and faith?
How can you convince a self-centered person that they are, in fact, self-centered? How can you recognize this trait in yourself?
Explain why unbelief of the Old Testament leads to unbelief of Jesus (John 5:47). Do you have to believe Genesis is literal in order to believe in Jesus?

Breakout
Pray for one another, and for anyone you know who still refuses to come to Christ.

Jeff Miller

February 23, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Life

Jeff Miller

February 23, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

Three Astonishing Claims of Christ
for Those Who Will Believe: (John 5:18-29)

Submission is power. (John 5:19-23)
Judgment is cancelled. (John 5:24)

Satan's Lies:

Man is basically good
The "good Lord" overlooks our faults.
If we try to do right, God lets us into heaven.
The pain we go through on earth is God's only judgment for sin.
I've always been a Christian.
Any "religious path" will get you to heaven.
We can't really be sure of heaven.
1 John 5:13 - 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.

Life is Restored . (John 5:25-29)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:54-01:56
Open up your Bibles to John 5.
01:58-02:00
John 5. It would help if I turned there.
02:03-02:10
You know, there are certain topics, just by mentioning the topic, it brings debate.
02:12-02:19
And I thought we'd kick off this message by talking about some of those highly controversial topics.
02:20-02:24
I thought, what better way to approach the Word of God than to get our and ruffled a little bit.
02:27-02:30
But you know, certain topics bring instant debate.
02:33-02:52
It could be something as mild as saying, "I think Pepsi is way better than Coke." I see some people nodding in agreement, and I see some people squirming in their seat very uncomfortably, like, I thought they preached truth at this church.
02:55-02:57
How about this topic that brings instant debate?
02:58-02:59
Marijuana.
03:02-03:03
Should it be legalized?
03:06-03:07
Are your feathers ruffled yet?
03:07-03:08
Hang on.
03:09-03:10
How about this one?
03:10-03:11
What about vaccinations?
03:14-03:18
What if I said to you I believe vaccinations cause autism.
03:20-03:22
Are your feathers ruffled yet?
03:22-03:23
Hang on.
03:24-03:25
I got one for all of you.
03:26-03:28
What if I said President Donald Trump?
03:31-03:34
What if I said I think he's the best president ever?
03:36-03:36
(audience laughing)
03:44-03:54
What if I said saying things like that "You're gonna get me shot." This is just an illustration, an introduction.
03:57-04:03
What if I said, just in case there's somebody that's not offended yet, don't worry, we'll get to you.
04:03-04:10
What if I said, "I think the church should only play hymns "with a pipe organ."
04:11-04:12
(audience laughing)
04:13-04:14
(laughter)
04:17-04:18
Is there anybody I have not yet offended?
04:18-04:19
Because I can keep going.
04:23-04:23
Here's the point.
04:25-04:35
In Jesus' day, Jesus created controversy with the Jewish leaders in the two biggest areas that He possibly could have.
04:38-04:40
Look at verse 18 in John 5.
04:40-04:40
Here they are.
04:41-04:45
He says this is why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him.
04:48-05:00
Because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, that's number one, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.
05:00-05:01
That's number two.
05:01-05:04
So we talked about our little controversial subjects.
05:04-05:06
Jesus hit the two biggest in his day.
05:07-05:12
the Sabbath and the Lord God.
05:14-05:23
Jesus violated the Sabbath, and He was making these claims that He was equal to God Himself.
05:25-05:29
We saw last week Jesus healed a man who was lame for 38 years.
05:30-05:35
And you would think that the Jewish leaders would be like, "This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen!
05:36-05:40
He healed this man, but that's not the reaction Jesus got.
05:41-05:44
In fact, they reacted to Him with disgust.
05:45-05:55
Because Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath, and therefore Jesus broke their Sabbath rules, not God's, He broke their man-made Sabbath rules.
05:57-06:06
And then speaking as if He were equal to God Himself, they decided literally at that point, they wanted not just to shut Him up, They wanted to kill Him.
06:08-06:14
And in this passage we're looking at today, we have Jesus' response to this situation.
06:16-06:17
That's what we're looking at today.
06:18-06:25
How did Jesus respond to verse 18 where they want to kill Him?
06:28-06:32
You know, Jesus could have tried to defuse the situation.
06:34-06:36
You could have tried to reason with them.
06:38-06:42
And instead, in this passage we're going to look at today, we're going to see that Jesus doubles down.
06:44-06:55
He escalates by emphatically reinforcing the boldest claim that any human being could ever make.
06:56-07:06
And that is, "I'm God." And that's a theme throughout the ministry of Jesus.
07:07-07:10
Understand that Jesus wasn't just some moral teacher.
07:13-07:19
Jesus made claims that could only apply to God.
07:20-07:22
Jesus said these things about Himself.
07:24-07:30
For example, Jesus claimed that He has control over people's eternal destinies.
07:32-07:34
Jesus said He has authority over the Sabbath.
07:35-07:36
Jesus said He answers prayer.
07:37-07:39
Jesus said He forgives sin.
07:40-07:41
Jesus said He rules angels.
07:42-07:44
Jesus said He has an eternal kingdom.
07:44-07:48
Jesus says He has the right to be worshipped.
07:49-08:01
And probably hardest of all, Jesus many times referred to Himself as the "I Am." The name that God the Father used to identify Himself.
08:06-08:15
So Jesus spends His ministry making these claims that can only apply to God, and we've seen them through the book of John even from the very first verse.
08:16-08:18
Right? That's how John started.
08:18-08:24
"In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God, Word - verse 14 - became flesh.
08:25-08:28
We're going to see this throughout the whole series in the Gospel of John.
08:29-08:30
Jesus is God.
08:30-08:46
And in the passage we're looking at today, Jesus clearly explains not only who He is, but the implications of His identity for you.
08:46-08:47
Okay, for you.
08:51-08:59
And each of these three hard truths - again, we're looking at three things here that are going to be kind of hard to swallow.
09:00-09:11
Jesus starts every one of them with a phrase, "Truly, truly, I say to you..." Now, everything Jesus said was truth, right?
09:11-09:14
Everything Jesus said was the Word of God.
09:14-09:23
But when Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you," it was almost like He was pulling out as this highlighter and saying, "Listen, this is very important.
09:24-09:28
And you're going to find this hard to believe, but you can take this to the bank, ok?
09:29-09:33
Write this down. This is absolutely true." So on your outline if you're taking notes.
09:35-09:36
We're going to get through this together.
09:36-09:43
Three astonishing claims of Christ for those who will believe.
09:45-09:47
So this is Jesus' response.
09:48-09:49
The first one.
09:49-09:51
The first astonishing claim.
09:55-09:56
Jot this down.
09:56-09:58
Submission is power.
10:02-10:04
Submission is power.
10:04-10:05
Look at v. 19.
10:07-10:20
"So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of His own accord, and only what He sees the Father doing for whatever the Father does that the Son does likewise.
10:22-10:25
Jesus said He did nothing of His own accord.
10:25-10:27
Try to wrap your brain around that one.
10:28-10:33
Do you realize when you study your Bible, Jesus never did anything for His own benefit.
10:33-10:33
Nothing.
10:34-10:35
He never did one thing.
10:35-10:41
Having all the power in the universe, He never did one thing He personally benefited Himself.
10:43-10:43
Right?
10:45-10:47
Think of Satan tempting Jesus.
10:48-10:50
"You're hungry. You've been fasting for 40 days.
10:51-10:54
Tell these rocks to become bread." Jesus said no.
10:56-11:00
He could have, but He didn't use His power for His own benefit.
11:00-11:04
Jesus lived in total submission to the Father.
11:06-11:10
And this submission to the Father It wasn't based on obligation.
11:10-11:11
It was based on relationship.
11:11-11:12
Look at v. 20.
11:13-11:17
It says, "For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself is doing.
11:19-11:32
In greater works than these will He show Him so that you may marvel." You know, the heart of God's redeeming work is love for His Son.
11:33-11:34
That's first and foremost.
11:37-11:46
All of the work of Jesus Christ - dying on the cross, resurrecting from the dead - a lot of times we think, well, the main reason He did that is me, and that's not true.
11:47-11:57
The main reason Jesus went through that is because of His love for the Father, and to glorify the Father, and to fulfill the purposes of the Father.
11:57-12:02
It's that love relationship that the Father and the Son have that was the main drive.
12:02-12:07
We are the beneficiaries of that.
12:08-12:09
It's a whole other sermon.
12:10-12:11
We're going to move on.
12:11-12:12
Look at verse 21.
12:15-12:24
Jesus goes on. He says, "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.
12:26-12:30
The Father judges no one, He has given all judgment to the Son.
12:32-12:37
That all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.
12:39-12:46
Whoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent Him.
12:49-13:01
In other words, because Jesus gives life, because Jesus has all authority and judgment, Jesus is saying here - did you catch it?
13:02-13:07
That He is worthy of the same worship that God the Father deserves.
13:09-13:12
In fact, Jesus takes it to another level.
13:13-13:18
Jesus says if you don't honor the Son, then you don't honor the Father.
13:20-13:25
Okay, so let's dispel this generic notion of God that people want to embrace.
13:25-13:26
You know, God bless America.
13:27-13:46
When you think of God as this generic force or thing or whatever, Jesus says, "No, no, you honor Me to honor the Father." I want you to look again at v. 19.
13:49-13:55
Where Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of His own accord.
13:58-14:01
That could be one of the most shocking things Jesus ever said.
14:04-14:13
I mean, I would think, I don't know about you, I would think, you know what Jesus, if you're God, you can do whatever you want. Right?
14:15-14:16
I mean, you're God.
14:16-14:18
You're not going to make a bad choice.
14:18-14:20
You're not going to do anything wrong.
14:20-14:25
"Jesus, you can do whatever you want." But Jesus here clearly stated the opposite.
14:26-14:39
Jesus said, "The Son can do nothing of His own accord." And Jesus didn't mean physically, like He's unable.
14:41-14:42
He means morally.
14:45-14:53
For example, if I said to our treasurer, Sean, And I said, "Sean, why don't you take some money out of the missions account?
14:54-14:59
Take Jenny somewhere real nice for a little vacation just the two of you." I know what Sean would say.
14:59-15:03
Sean would say, "I can't do that." I'd be like, "Well, yeah you can.
15:03-15:06
You have access to the bank account and things like that.
15:06-15:13
You could do that." And Sean would say, "No, I can't do that." He could, but he won't.
15:15-15:16
Because he knows it would cheapen his life.
15:17-15:18
contradict who He is.
15:20-15:23
No, it's just not in Him to do that.
15:24-15:26
And that's the same with Jesus.
15:26-15:27
He could have done whatever He wanted.
15:28-15:30
Tell these rocks to become bread.
15:30-15:31
He could have.
15:34-15:42
But He said, "No, I can't do that." Because He would not do anything except what the Father wanted.
15:45-15:46
in any situation.
15:49-15:54
And He teaches us this truth that people don't want to believe.
15:56-15:58
But it's true whether you want to believe it or not.
15:58-15:59
And here it is.
15:59-16:00
You ready?
16:02-16:03
Submission is power.
16:07-16:14
We think when I have authority over someone or someones, that is a position of power.
16:14-16:22
And Jesus said, "No, no, submission is power." People don't want to believe that.
16:24-16:25
You know how I know?
16:26-16:28
It's because I've preached a few wedding sermons.
16:30-16:47
And I'm preaching the wedding sermon and I get to that Ephesians 5 part, "Husbands, love your wives like Christ loved the church." And everybody's like, "Christ the Lord!" And I'm like, "Wives, submit to your own husbands." And everybody's like, "Ugh!" I can hear the groan and I listen for it.
16:49-16:52
I hear the groans and I face the feedback.
16:52-17:11
And I've had so many women over the last two-plus decades wagging their head and waving their hand saying, "I don't submit to no man!" And I just think to myself, You don't get it.
17:13-17:15
Because I've also seen it in the church.
17:17-17:30
So many times, and Aaron can tell you, so many times, not just this church, other churches where we've served, I've seen people will submit to the church leadership so long as the leaders tell them what they want to hear.
17:33-17:39
And if the leaders don't tell them what they want to hear, I ain't submitting to that.
17:40-17:41
Well, then is it really submission?
17:45-17:51
The Bible calls us to a life of submission to God.
17:53-18:02
And submission to the authorities that God has placed in our lives so long as these authorities don't ask us to sin. Right?
18:02-18:05
Then we appeal to the higher authority, which is God.
18:05-18:10
God has placed authorities in your life that He has called you and I to submit to.
18:10-18:14
The government, church leaders, kids to their parents, wives to their husbands.
18:15-18:19
You know the Bible says that we should submit to one another in the church.
18:21-18:33
You see, this idea of submission gets so much negative feedback, but if you really read your Bible, the Bible says we should be people that are used to submission as a lifestyle.
18:35-18:40
Too many people have bought into this idea that submission is weakness.
18:42-18:43
Submission is weakness.
18:45-18:50
And I challenge that by saying, well, who was the most powerful person who ever walked the earth?
18:50-18:51
Who was it?
18:52-18:57
The most powerful person, the most influential, the most famous person to ever walk the earth.
18:57-18:58
Who was it?
18:59-18:59
Say it.
19:00-19:00
Jesus!
19:01-19:03
And do you know what Jesus said about submission?
19:05-19:19
He said, "The Son can do nothing of His own accord." The most powerful person who ever walked the earth lived a life of 100% submission.
19:20-19:31
And we too will learn and experience true power in our lives when we submit to God and the authorities that He's placed in our lives.
19:32-19:39
You do that, you understand like Jesus that submission is power.
19:41-19:46
And I just have to ask myself, if Jesus Himself had this attitude of submission, how can I have anything less?
19:49-19:57
The first thing Jesus taught and modeled, and would come into us, submission is power.
19:58-20:02
Secondly, here's another astonishing claim of Christ.
20:03-20:07
Judgment is canceled. Judgment is canceled.
20:10-20:32
So many people struggle with this idea of judgment and this idea of preaching forgiveness and grace, but Pastor Jeff, I've done so many wrong things in my life, and I'm not the person that I should be, How do I know that God's not still angry with me because of my sin?
20:32-20:33
Look at v. 24.
20:34-20:40
Jesus says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.
20:41-20:50
He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life." To be saved.
20:51-20:53
To have the promise of heaven.
20:53-20:55
To have your sins forgiven.
20:57-20:59
You have to come to Jesus on His terms.
21:01-21:03
It's His Word. It's His truth.
21:03-21:09
It's believing that He was sent from heaven to save you, to give you eternal life.
21:11-21:28
But when we talk about salvation, when we talk about judgment being canceled, when we talk about our sin being taken away, when we talk about our total need for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, So many people get confused.
21:29-21:37
Or so many people flat out get it wrong because they bought into Satan's lies regarding salvation.
21:39-21:51
I'm going to go through some of these lies quickly because I promise you there are some people here today, there are people listening online, that have bought into one or more of these lies.
21:53-21:57
So we're going to hold them up to the light of God's Word for what they are.
21:57-21:57
They're lies.
21:58-21:59
Have you bought into Satan's lies?
22:03-22:04
Here we go.
22:05-22:09
First one is, "Man is basically good." That's a lie from hell.
22:10-22:11
People say, "You know what?
22:11-22:19
I think man deep down, man is basically good." And I'm like, "Really?" You know, the Bible says that we're sinners by birth and by choice.
22:20-22:30
Even apart from the Bible, can you really look around at what's happening in the world and come to the conclusion that mankind is basically good?
22:30-22:32
Can you really look within?
22:33-22:39
Knowing your own wicked thoughts and attitudes and conclude that man is good?
22:40-22:44
That sure doesn't line up with experience, and more so, it doesn't line up with the Word of God.
22:44-22:44
That's a lie.
22:48-22:51
from Satan is the good Lord overlooks our faults.
22:52-22:54
We've all heard that, right?
22:55-23:07
"Oh, you know, we all mess up, we all make mistakes, but the good Lord just overlooks our faults." When the reality is God is holy, and He cannot overlook our sinful rebellion.
23:10-23:11
He can't. And He won't.
23:13-23:14
Like, well, how bad can I be?
23:15-23:19
You know, the Bible says if you've broken God's law at one point, you're guilty of the whole law.
23:20-23:21
That's James 2.10.
23:22-23:25
Because rejecting the law means you're rejecting the law giver.
23:25-23:38
Now I would ask you, hypothetically, imagine you showed up in a local courthouse here, and the judge says, oh, I see here that you are guilty of breaking every law that we have on the books.
23:39-23:41
What are the chances that that judge is going to just let you go?
23:43-23:43
Zero.
23:44-23:53
No honest judge could dismiss a person guilty of every crime possible.
23:55-23:59
And somehow we think we're going to stand before a holy God?
24:00-24:04
That He's just going to ignore our sin?
24:08-24:08
It's not true.
24:10-24:12
Furthermore, why did Jesus show up?
24:13-24:15
If God just overlooks our sin.
24:17-24:20
Third lie, if we try to do right, God lets us into heaven.
24:20-24:21
This could be the biggest one.
24:22-24:24
If you just try to do right, God lets us into heaven.
24:27-24:30
It doesn't matter if you try to do right.
24:31-24:33
Because you're still guilty of sin.
24:33-24:33
Right?
24:34-24:40
Get back to that courtroom scenario where you're standing before the judge and you're guilty of committing impossible to commit.
24:40-24:43
What if you said to that judge, you know what, your honor, you're right.
24:43-24:45
This looks very bad for me because I'm guilty of all these crimes.
24:45-24:48
I'm gonna tell you what, from now on I'm gonna live at the soup kitchen.
24:48-24:56
I'm gonna move in and I'm gonna spend every day for the rest of my life helping poor people or helping down and out people.
24:56-25:01
The judge is going to say, hey, that's a noble intention, but you're still guilty, right?
25:01-25:03
That doesn't take away your guilt.
25:06-25:07
So it is with the Lord.
25:08-25:15
"You know, we can try to do right, but we still stand guilty of violating God's law." That's a lie.
25:17-25:18
Fourth lie, letter D.
25:20-25:24
"The pain we go through on earth is God's only judgment for sin." Oh, I've heard that so many times.
25:24-25:38
"I don't believe in hell, Jeff, because I believe that we experience hell on the earth." And I'm not making light of those of us who have struggled with various types of pain and loss.
25:39-25:40
But here's the reality.
25:41-25:45
Pain is part of the experience of living in a fallen world.
25:47-25:49
Pain itself doesn't take away sin.
25:50-25:55
God sent His Son to pay the eternal penalty for our sin and to take it away.
25:56-25:57
Pain doesn't take away sin.
25:58-25:59
Jesus takes away sin.
26:02-26:03
Fifth lie.
26:03-26:23
People say, "I've always been a Christian." "I've always been a Christian." Now, listen, this is different than "I grew up in a Christian home and was discipled and came to understand Jesus at a young age." But, you haven't always been a Christian.
26:26-26:33
"Yes, I have." "No, you haven't." "Yes, I have." "No, you haven't." What if I just did that for five minutes?
26:33-26:34
How annoying would that get?
26:37-26:38
Well, let me ask you this.
26:40-26:49
When you came out of your mother's womb, at birth, did you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior in that moment?
26:51-26:52
Like, I don't really remember that moment.
26:55-26:56
Probably not, right?
26:57-26:59
Did you receive Jesus Christ when you were one year old?
27:00-27:03
No, I don't even think I was talking at that point.
27:03-27:06
Did you receive Jesus Christ when you were two years old?
27:07-27:09
Did you receive Jesus Christ when you were three years old?
27:09-27:10
You see the point, right?
27:10-27:15
At some point in your life, you have to believe in Jesus Christ.
27:15-27:20
At some point in your life, you have to personally receive Him.
27:24-27:25
It has to happen somewhere, right?
27:25-27:35
Whether you're a disciple in the home, or Jesus was never mentioned in your home, and you came to know Him and understand Him some other way.
27:37-27:39
At some point, you have to receive Jesus Christ.
27:42-27:43
Next lie.
27:44-27:46
Any religious path will get you to heaven.
27:48-27:50
It doesn't matter what you believe.
27:50-27:51
Just believe in God.
27:51-27:52
Your path will get you to heaven.
27:56-27:59
Well, that contradicts the clear teaching of the Bible that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven.
28:01-28:03
Because He's the only one that deals with the sin issue.
28:04-28:08
Nobody else has or can do that.
28:11-28:14
But again, apart from the Bible, even the concept itself is ludicrous.
28:15-28:19
If you came to me and said, "Hey, I'm going to take a little family trip to Erie.
28:20-28:24
"What's the best way to get to Erie, Pennsylvania?" And I said to you, "Any road will get you there.
28:26-28:45
Just get in your car and drive, and you'll end up in Erie." You're like, "Well, that doesn't seem to make very much sense." I'm like, "No, no, any path will get you there." Look, I'm not one to push my beliefs about maps and direction and GPS.
28:47-28:51
I don't want to be obnoxious and push my beliefs on those things.
28:51-28:56
So I'm going to tell you, I'm going to tell you, young grasshopper, you take any path you want, you'll get to Erie.
28:59-29:01
You'd be like, what was in your communion juice?
29:05-29:06
It's crazy, isn't it?
29:06-29:09
Isn't it funny when we talk about heaven, people are like, any path will get you there.
29:09-29:10
No, it will not.
29:12-29:18
Because you've got a sin issue, you've got a holy God issue, of one Savior that dealt with that issue.
29:18-29:20
And His name is Jesus Christ.
29:22-29:26
Last lie is we can't really be sure of Heaven.
29:27-29:29
I mean, we can't really be sure.
29:30-29:40
The answer to that lie is yeah, we can know that Heaven is real and we can know that we have eternal life because God wants us to know for sure.
29:40-29:41
Did you know that?
29:41-29:42
God wants you to be sure.
29:43-30:06
That's why the Bible says, among other places, 1 John 5.13, "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." You're like, well, how can somebody possibly know that they have eternal life?
30:06-30:24
Well, let's get back to John 5.24 when Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, for he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life." Can you hear Jesus' Word?
30:25-30:30
And I don't just mean can you audibly pick up the sounds coming out of my mouth.
30:30-30:31
No, it's not about me.
30:31-30:34
Can you hear what Jesus is saying in this passage?
30:36-30:36
Are you tuned in?
30:37-30:43
Because Jesus said, John 10.27, we're going to get there, My sheep hear My voice.
30:47-30:49
Do you believe that Jesus Christ died for your sin?
30:50-30:54
Do you believe that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to give you eternal life?
30:54-30:57
If you do, look at the end of verse 24.
30:57-31:06
Jesus said, "He does not come into judgment, but is passed from death to life." See, that's the assurance.
31:06-31:09
It's believing the promise of Jesus Christ.
31:10-31:13
I can confidently stand before you and say I know that I'm going to heaven.
31:15-31:16
You're like, well, that sounds awfully arrogant.
31:16-31:17
No, no, no, it's not!
31:18-31:19
Because it's not up to me.
31:20-31:21
It's not based on me.
31:22-31:25
It's not up to my works or my integrity.
31:25-31:27
It's based on God's integrity.
31:27-31:31
He made a promise, and I'm saying I believe the promise that He made to me.
31:32-31:33
And I believe God always keeps His Word.
31:34-31:37
So because of that, I know that I'm going to heaven.
31:40-31:44
People all the time say things to me like, "You know, Pastor Jeff, I've got a lot to answer for.
31:44-31:50
Don't stand behind me on judgment day because God's really going to let me have it." That's just not true.
31:51-31:52
That is not true.
31:54-32:06
Because if you've received Jesus Christ, He says, "Truly, truly, there is no judgment." Three astonishing claims of Christ.
32:06-32:07
Do you want to know one more?
32:08-32:10
Number three, life is restored.
32:12-32:14
Life is restored.
32:18-32:23
Jesus Christ did not come into the world to turn bad people into good people.
32:25-32:28
Jesus Christ came into the world to turn dead people into alive people.
32:29-32:33
Adam, the first man, He brought sin and death into the world.
32:36-32:38
He brought sin and death into the world.
32:38-32:44
So what we need is not morality, we don't need encouragement, we don't need positive thinking or good vibes.
32:45-32:45
What do we need?
32:45-32:46
Look at verse 25.
32:48-32:53
Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming.
32:53-33:01
It is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
33:02-33:10
For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself.
33:12-33:13
What we need is life.
33:14-33:17
What we need is spiritual resurrection.
33:19-33:21
Regeneration. Being born again.
33:23-33:28
Jesus is pointing out here that regeneration in His day It has begun.
33:29-33:44
Jesus, during His ministry and all the way up to February 23, 2020, and tomorrow if He gives it, Jesus is giving life to those who will believe in Him.
33:46-33:48
We are by nature spiritually dead.
33:50-33:51
That's how we're born.
33:52-33:55
And some people will remain that way for the rest of their lives.
33:55-33:56
will not respond to God.
33:57-33:58
There's no thought of accountability.
33:58-34:00
They refuse to listen to God's Word.
34:00-34:02
They refuse to turn from sin.
34:02-34:03
Why?
34:03-34:06
Again, Jesus points out, because they don't hear.
34:07-34:11
They're unwilling to hear what the Son of God is saying.
34:12-34:13
Look at verse 27.
34:15-34:30
It says, "And He has given him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man." At this point, I think Jesus' audience, I think their jaws are on the floor.
34:31-34:32
Hearing all this?
34:33-34:36
This is some pretty shocking stuff that Jesus is saying.
34:37-34:40
And I think that that's what's happening because of Jesus' next statement.
34:40-34:44
Verse 28, He says, "Do not marvel at this." Like, you look shocked.
34:44-34:45
Hey, hey.
34:46-34:48
Don't be so surprised that I'm telling you this.
34:49-34:55
Jesus said, "Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming And all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out.
34:57-35:03
Those who have done good, the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
35:04-35:06
We talked about the spiritual resurrection.
35:07-35:10
When you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are born again.
35:10-35:11
You have His life in you.
35:12-35:14
Here, Jesus is talking about the physical resurrection.
35:15-35:21
Someday, Jesus is going to empty every cemetery, every grave.
35:22-35:29
is going to be emptied so that the body - the glorified body - is going to be reunited with the soul.
35:29-35:31
Last year we covered this in Revelation 20.
35:32-35:34
Jesus sums it up here.
35:34-35:42
Those who have done good - meaning those who have received Him, believed in His name - that bodily resurrection happens at the rapture.
35:42-35:45
And it happens through and after the tribulation.
35:49-35:55
You'll have an eternal body for the thousand year reign of Christ on the earth and beyond.
35:57-35:58
That's one resurrection.
36:00-36:02
Jesus said there's another resurrection for those who have done evil.
36:03-36:05
Revelation 20 tells us, remember?
36:07-36:10
This resurrection happens after the thousand year reign of Christ.
36:14-36:28
For everyone who's rejected Christ, and insisted on living life by their own terms, they'll get a glorified eternal body to stand before the great white throne.
36:30-36:35
And that eternal body won't be used to enjoy God's presence and fellowship forever.
36:35-36:38
That eternal body will be given to suffer forever.
36:42-36:45
So it looks like the judgment is based on works here.
36:47-36:48
It is.
36:50-36:51
Your works can't save you.
36:54-37:08
Your works can't keep you from being saved, but what Jesus is pointing out here, works, your works, good or bad, they're the fruit, they're the evidence on where you stand with Jesus Christ.
37:11-37:17
Just tell me for a second that the God of the universe puts His life inside you and you don't change.
37:17-37:19
You don't have new appetites.
37:19-37:23
You don't have desires to do things that are pleasing and honoring to Him.
37:25-37:26
That's why your works, they're evidence.
37:27-37:31
And I would ask you, what does the fruit of your life reflect?
37:34-37:38
Just think of your typical Sunday through Saturday week.
37:39-37:41
What does the fruit of your life reflect?
37:42-37:46
Does your life look like someone who has the life of Christ alive in you?
37:47-37:51
Or does your life look like someone who lives life on your own terms, apart from God?
37:54-37:56
Because for some of you, this verse should be frightening.
37:58-38:05
Because the day is coming, that your choice regarding Jesus Christ is going to be revealed.
38:08-38:09
You can fool me.
38:11-38:14
You can fool your family that you live with if you have a family.
38:14-38:17
You can fool your dear, sweet grandmama.
38:19-38:20
You can be a nice person.
38:21-38:22
You can be a churchgoer.
38:22-38:25
But if you haven't received Jesus Christ, you will not fool Him.
38:28-38:33
The wonderful news in reading all this is it doesn't have to be frightening.
38:36-38:40
Today, you can have your sin taken away.
38:42-38:49
Truly, truly I say to you, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life.
38:49-38:52
He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
38:54-38:55
Can you hear Him?
38:58-38:59
Are you tuned in?
39:02-39:05
I believe Jesus is who He says He is.
39:06-39:07
He's God in the flesh.
39:07-39:09
He's the Giver of life.
39:09-39:10
He's the Judge of all.
39:12-39:13
Turn from your sin.
39:16-39:16
Turn to Him.
39:19-39:21
You can do that right now.
39:21-39:26
I'm going to ask you to bow your heads with me, please.
39:29-39:30
I'd like to lead you in a prayer.
39:32-39:38
And just repeating some words, that doesn't do it.
39:42-39:48
It's believing from your heart what it is that you're praying.
39:51-39:56
With whatever faith you have, bow your heads.
40:00-40:04
If you need to say this prayer, say it with me.
40:06-40:10
Something like this, God, I understand that I am a sinner.
40:12-40:14
I am dead in my sin.
40:14-40:17
I understand, God, that I am lost without You.
40:20-40:22
God, I see in Your Word that You are the Giver of life.
40:23-40:28
that you've given your Son the authority and the power to give life.
40:31-40:43
And God, You have promised that if I hear Your Word, and I believe, I will receive life.
40:45-40:47
I will not come into judgment.
40:50-40:56
But I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
40:57-41:03
I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin.
41:05-41:10
I believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead to give me eternal life.
41:11-41:15
And God, today, right now, I'm asking that You have mercy on me.
41:16-41:30
I'm asking that You give me the life When Jesus Christ promised, I'm asking God that You give me true spiritual faith to believe the things that You've promised in Your Word.
41:34-41:43
If you've prayed that, and you believe, then you will not come into judgment.
41:45-41:47
and you will pass from death to life.
41:49-41:51
Father, You know every heart in this room.
41:54-42:12
Let us not be self-deceived people, but instead, let us be people who like little children, we take You at Your Word, we believe, and we act on that belief.
42:14-42:29
Father, I pray through this message from Your Word, that You would truly bring people to saving faith in Jesus Christ, that sin is broken, that eternity is changed forever.
42:33-42:34
Healing takes place.
42:36-42:37
Father, glorify Your name.
42:38-42:40
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 5:18-29

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why do you think Jesus didn’t try to “reason” with His critics? Why would Jesus declare such truths about Himself if He knew it would only make them angrier?
According to John 5:29, what is the basis of judgment? If good works cannot save you, what does this mean? What place do “good works” have in the life of the redeemed?

Breakout
Have you ever struggled with feeling condemned? What does John 5:24 say about judgment for the one who believes in Jesus? Why do we often believe our feelings over the Word of God? How can we change that? Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

February 16, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Healing

Jeff Miller

February 16, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

Do You Want to Be Healed?
5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better :
(John 5:1-18)

You have to Want to. (John 5:6)
Stop Blaming others for your problems. (John 5:7)
Stop doing things Your way. (John 5:7)
Do what Jesus says to do. (John 5:8)
1. Get up
2. Take up your bed
3. Walk
Live in Gratitude to Jesus. (John 5:14)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:11-01:11
John 5.
01:12-01:15
Every message through John, we're looking at one thing.
01:16-01:19
And that's what does Jesus want us to know about Him.
01:20-01:23
So that we might know Him in a greater way.
01:24-01:29
That's our theme this year, "Knowing Jesus." John 5. Pick up in verse 1.
01:30-01:35
It says, "After this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
01:36-01:44
Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, an Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five rooted colonnades.
01:44-01:54
And these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed." Okay, so John takes us to the scene.
01:54-02:03
There's a feast, one of the three annual feasts of the Jews, and Jesus, like every Jewish man, went to Jerusalem for the feast.
02:03-02:07
And it says there was this pool that was by the sheep gate.
02:07-02:08
Do you know what the sheep gate was for?
02:09-02:10
Sheep, OK.
02:11-02:11
That's right.
02:12-02:13
You've studied this?
02:14-02:15
Yeah, the sheep gate was for the sheep.
02:15-02:19
But this pool, think of it in terms sort of as a public pool.
02:19-02:20
It was used for water.
02:20-02:22
It was used for cooling off.
02:22-02:24
It was used for bathing.
02:24-02:25
But this was a large one.
02:25-02:28
We know it's large because it had five porches.
02:30-02:34
And it says that this is a place where many invalids hung out.
02:35-02:37
Well, why did they hang out there?
02:38-02:40
Well, does your Bible have a verse 4 in it?
02:41-02:42
Look down at your Bible.
02:42-02:43
Is there a verse 4 in your Bible?
02:44-02:44
No.
02:46-02:46
Wait a second.
02:46-02:49
I got a defective-- I know I shouldn't have bought my Bible at Ollie's.
02:50-02:53
No, your verse 4 might actually be in the footnote.
02:53-02:54
That's where it is in mine.
02:55-03:06
It says, "Some manuscripts," insert, holy or impart, "Waiting for the moving of the water, for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water.
03:06-03:17
Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had." Like, why isn't that up with the regular text?
03:17-03:22
The reason that's not up with the regular text is it doesn't belong in the text. That's why.
03:23-03:26
This was actually a superstition, okay?
03:26-03:27
It wasn't true.
03:28-03:41
What happened was in the early manuscripts, that wasn't in there at all, and somebody later, when the manuscripts were being copied, knew of this superstition and said, "We're going to insert that in there." But that didn't really happen.
03:42-03:46
Like, how in the world, Pastor Jeff, do you know that that didn't happen?
03:46-03:48
I want you to think about it.
03:49-03:53
Where else in God's Word have you ever seen anything like that?
03:54-03:56
I was thinking about it a lot this week.
03:56-03:59
You know, that's an extremely cruel thought when you think about it.
04:00-04:02
I mean, just, who do the angels work for?
04:03-04:05
God, right? And they work for God perfectly, right?
04:06-04:07
They do whatever God says to do.
04:08-04:18
So you're telling me that under God's sovereignty and under God's direction, this angel, every so often, has a race for invalence.
04:19-04:28
And says, "I'll tell you what, I'm going to sneak down and I'm going to splash the water, and whoever gets into the pool first gets healed, and the rest of you, sorry about your luck.
04:28-04:30
Does that sound like God at all to you?
04:31-04:35
To have some sort of an impromptu race for handicapped people?
04:36-04:38
I mean, that sounds horribly cruel to me.
04:39-04:41
And I just don't buy it.
04:42-04:44
I just don't buy that that was actually a thing.
04:44-04:45
I think it was a superstition.
04:47-04:50
Like, oh, they were so silly back then, weren't they, Pastor Jeff?
04:50-04:53
I look up the Popovich Miracle Water, right?
04:54-04:55
Right, Darren Keller?
04:55-05:01
Sally sent me a video one time with Peter Popovich with his miracle water.
05:02-05:09
That you get this little packet of water in the mail, and these people are like, I got a check for $7,000 thanks to the miracle water.
05:11-05:12
Some people believe anything.
05:13-05:15
And that's exactly what was happening here.
05:15-05:21
The pool was probably fed by some underground spring, and every so often it bubbled up.
05:21-05:24
And the people were like, "Oh, the angels are taking a bath!
05:25-05:30
Now's the time to jump in and get healed." Well, that's what was going on there.
05:31-05:34
The Invalids laid around there because a lot of them believed the superstition.
05:35-05:38
Verse 5 though, let's focus on one of them in particular.
05:38-05:43
It says, "One man was there who had been an Invalid for 38 years." Just stop there for a second.
05:43-05:44
Let's try to conceptualize that.
05:45-05:47
Some of you haven't yet lived 38 years.
05:48-05:52
So just for you, it's like your entire life plus, right?
05:53-05:54
I was trying to conceptualize it for me.
05:55-06:02
That would mean for me that I would have become an invalid in sixth grade, or I'm sorry, when I was six years old.
06:02-06:04
Sorry, six years old, that's first grade.
06:04-06:06
I wasn't six years old in sixth grade.
06:07-06:15
First grade, from my first grade year of elementary school until this very day, I would have been an invalid.
06:15-06:16
It's a long time.
06:18-06:19
That's this man's story.
06:20-06:21
Invalid 38 years.
06:22-06:33
It says when Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he'd already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" I'm going to stop there for a second because I'm going to be honest with you.
06:34-06:36
I don't mean this to sound irreverent whatsoever.
06:36-06:37
I'm just being honest with you.
06:37-06:40
When I first read this, I thought that was a really dumb question.
06:41-06:44
Now I'm conflicted here because I know Jesus doesn't ask dumb questions.
06:46-06:53
When I first read this, I'm thinking, wait a minute, here's a guy that's been, almost four decades, he's been unable to walk.
06:54-07:01
Okay, and then Jesus shows up and he says, "Do you want to be healed?" And I just imagine the smart-alecky side of me, and no, I don't want to be healed, actually.
07:01-07:06
I was thinking about maybe laying here another 38 years, you know, sort of even out the tan.
07:06-07:08
Like, do I want to be healed?
07:09-07:10
Like, what kind of a question is that?
07:11-07:16
I'm like, you know, the more I thought about that, you're going to see it.
07:16-07:20
There's something extremely profound and wise in that question.
07:22-07:23
We're going to get to that in a second.
07:24-07:28
But as we go through the text, I want you to see the question isn't near as surprising as the answer.
07:28-07:31
You would think that the guy would be like, yes, I want to be healed.
07:31-07:32
Yes!
07:32-07:33
Look at his answer.
07:34-07:34
Verse 7.
07:35-07:40
It says, "The sick man answered him, 'Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water's stirred up.
07:40-07:57
And while I'm going, another steps down before me.'" He sort of gives his canned complaints, "Life's not fair, I'm such a victim, let me give you all the reasons I can't get well." You notice the guy didn't even really answer the question.
07:58-07:59
Why didn't he just say yes?
08:00-08:05
Well, truth be told, he had no idea who he was speaking to, okay?
08:05-08:07
We're going to see that very clearly later in the text.
08:08-09:13
He didn't know this was Jesus, he didn't know what Jesus was capable of, he just thought this was just some random stranger walk up like do you want to be healed like he didn't know it was Jesus but would it have mattered if he did know because 38 years is a long time to settle into the comforts of being an invalid to always have the excuse ready and if we're honest being well well that holds a lot more responsibilities. Maybe Jesus' question wasn't so crazy. Do you want to be healed? Maybe your Bible says, "Do you want to be made well?" Well, that means I'm gonna have to do more than just lay here. That means I'm not going to get people's donations, and I'm not going to get people's pity, and I'm not going to get people's attention. Maybe it's not such a crazy question. Think about it in in terms of our day, of somebody who has some sort of a physical issue going on, and they've learned to live off of SSI.
09:14-09:22
Imagine going to that person and asking them, "Would you like to get healed and get off of SSI?" For some people, the answer would be no.
09:22-09:23
Look, this is how I live.
09:23-09:24
This is what I'm used to.
09:25-09:29
And I can't imagine what life would be any different than it is.
09:30-09:32
So he gives Jesus his excuses.
09:32-09:47
verses 8 and 9, Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed and walk." And at once the man was healed and he took up his bed and he walked. Now, that day was the Sabbath.
09:48-10:05
And that last statement tells us the problems that are going to be coming, you're going to see again in the text, the problems that are going to be coming with the Jews. Jesus did this healing on the Sabbath. You know, the guy was an invalid for 38 years. Jesus a day sooner, or he could have waited a day later.
10:07-10:10
Jesus very specifically and intentionally did this on the Sabbath.
10:12-10:16
And to the Jews, what this man did was a violation of the Sabbath.
10:16-10:23
To carry your bed as Jesus commanded him to do, this man broke the Sabbath.
10:23-10:25
And that was a huge no-no.
10:25-10:26
And you're like, "Wait, wait, wait.
10:26-10:31
Isn't breaking the Sabbath, isn't that like in the Old Testament?" No.
10:31-10:32
It's really not.
10:33-10:38
If you study your Old Testament, the only prohibition regarding the Sabbath is don't work.
10:39-10:40
What's the heart behind that?
10:41-10:49
The heart behind that is men would just keep working 24/7, 365, never stop, never take a break, never focus on worship, ever.
10:50-10:53
Never spend time with their family, ever.
10:53-10:54
Never rest.
10:54-11:02
Sabbath was a gift from God to man to say, you need to take time away from your work to rest and to worship.
11:03-11:10
So the Jews made up hundreds of man-made rules that they believed would help them keep the Sabbath.
11:12-11:13
Rules like.
11:14-11:18
You're not allowed to carry your bed on the Sabbath.
11:19-11:21
This man clearly violated that.
11:22-11:32
First, hence, the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is a Sabbath and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." But he answered them, "The man who healed me..." See, he didn't know it was Jesus, okay?
11:33-11:54
He says, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" We just have to pause here and note the true insanity of this passage, But the Jews didn't care that a man who was crippled for four decades is walking around.
11:55-11:56
Don't care. Do you know what they cared about?
11:57-12:14
"You're breaking our rules, pal." "What?" 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." I've got to stop here.
12:14-12:17
I love this verse because this verse lets me cut the guy some slack.
12:18-12:24
You know, I read so many preachers and commentators and scholars this week.
12:24-12:27
And do you know what I saw over and over and over and over in my studies?
12:28-12:30
So many of the preachers were like, "This guy was such an ingrate.
12:31-12:39
Like Jesus healed him and he never said thank you." According to verse 13, does it look like the guy had a chance to know or to thank Jesus?
12:41-12:49
It sounds like Jesus, according to verse 13, it sounds like Jesus just sort of flew by the pool, healed the guy and just kept going.
12:49-12:56
It says Jesus had withdrawn before the guy was even like, "Whoa, who was that guy?" But Jesus is going to make sure that they meet again.
12:56-13:04
Verse 14, "Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'See, you are well.
13:05-13:10
Sin no more that nothing worse may happen to you.'" So Jesus finds him in the crowd.
13:10-13:12
I don't think that was an accident.
13:13-13:14
Well, what's the point?
13:14-13:16
Well, Jesus wanted to tell him the point of the miracle.
13:16-13:22
You realize when Jesus did these miracles, it wasn't just a matter of dazzling people or showing off.
13:23-13:25
There was always a point behind the miracle.
13:26-13:30
I could do a whole sermon on this, but here's the short version.
13:30-13:30
You ready?
13:31-13:35
Jesus said to the man, "Look, I gave you a new lease on life.
13:36-13:37
Now go live like it.
13:38-13:42
Because the results of sin are a lot worse than the results of illness.
13:43-13:47
In 38 years in invalid's bed, eternity in hell apart from God.
13:50-13:52
In other words, don't take grace for granted.
13:53-13:55
We're going to talk more about that in a couple of minutes.
13:55-14:07
Verse 15 says, "The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him." So he uses his brand new legs to run to the Jews and tell them it was Jesus.
14:07-14:07
Why?
14:08-14:18
Again, a lot of people that I read this week, that was sort of the whole gist of their sermon, was like the guy was an ingrate and he was ratting Jesus out.
14:19-14:21
And I just got to tell you, I can't say that.
14:22-14:27
I would say maybe, but look, the text doesn't give his motives.
14:29-14:29
It just doesn't.
14:30-14:33
And perhaps, perhaps the guy was just innocent.
14:33-14:36
Perhaps he was like, "Hey, I found out who that was.
14:36-14:41
Hey guys, guys, I found out who that was. It was Jesus." I mean, we don't know that it was malicious.
14:42-14:43
I don't know.
14:43-14:47
It doesn't matter, because that's not the point anyways.
14:47-14:49
The point is verse 16. Here's the point.
14:50-14:54
This is why John tells us this whole story, to get to this point.
14:55-15:09
He says, "And this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath." John's like, "This is the whole point." Okay, so let's not split hairs over motives or gratefulness or anything like that.
15:09-15:13
The point is they were mad at Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.
15:15-15:19
Well, Jesus knows everything and He knew their attitudes, so He responds to these Jews.
15:20-15:40
Verse 17, "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I am working.'" Jesus' response to them is simply, "My Father and I are at work." You Sabbath police people, your work is enforcing your little man-made laws, But my work is my Father's work.
15:41-15:42
That's to love people.
15:42-15:44
That's to minister to suffering people.
15:45-15:51
Verse 18 shows us that Jesus' statement to them just doubled their reasons to hate Him.
15:52-16:04
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, look at this, making Himself equal with God.
16:07-16:09
they at least rightly understood what Jesus was saying.
16:10-16:11
He was equal with God.
16:12-16:23
And this event is a turning point in the Gospel of John, because this event really fires up the hatred of the Jews, specifically the Jewish leaders, against Jesus.
16:25-16:29
But for a few moments this morning, I just want to focus on one question.
16:30-16:33
Again, I thought when I first read this that it was kind of a silly question.
16:35-16:45
The more I've thought about this passage and meditated on it and studied it in its context and examined my own life, I think there's something profound here for you and for me.
16:46-16:50
Jesus said, "Do you want to be made well?" Do you want to be made well?
16:52-16:57
He confronted this man with that question, and He confronts you and I with that question today.
16:58-17:07
"Oh, maybe you haven't been an invalid for 38 years, But you have something going on in your life that's been debilitating to you.
17:07-17:15
And Jesus comes to you and He says to you, "Do you want to be made well?" What area is it for you?
17:17-17:20
Because the Bible says Jesus knew what was going on with this guy.
17:20-17:21
He knows what's going on with you.
17:21-17:25
He knows the thing that's been even metaphorically crippling you.
17:26-17:27
It's been hurting your walk.
17:28-17:29
It's had a stranglehold.
17:29-17:30
It's kept you in bondage.
17:30-17:33
And imagine Jesus walking in today.
17:34-17:35
He just cuts right through the chase.
17:35-17:37
He goes, I know what's going on in your life.
17:38-17:39
Do you want to get better?
17:40-17:42
Are you content to just lay there?
17:43-17:44
Do you want to be made well?
17:46-17:49
That addiction, that addiction, you just can't seem to get behind you.
17:50-17:51
Do you want to be made well?
17:52-17:58
You know that addiction to pornography that's brought you such shame and damaged your relationships.
17:59-18:02
to you, Jesus says, do you want to be made well?
18:03-18:10
That marriage that has been miserable, Jesus comes to you and he says, do you want to be made well?
18:12-18:27
That unforgiveness in a relationship that went bad years ago that you've just been so sour towards that person, you've had such hatred towards that person, and you know that's not God's intention, you know forgiven people forgive.
18:27-18:31
And Jesus says, "Do you want to be made well?
18:34-18:38
Or maybe it's bad money management, right?
18:38-18:46
You've so poorly mishandled God's money in your life that it just seems to hinder everything in your life.
18:46-19:02
You just can't seem to get ahead or get a grip on anything in life because this financial thing is hanging over you." And Jesus comes to you and He says, "Do you want to be made well?" Well, I want you to jot some things down in your outline.
19:03-19:04
Do you want to be healed?
19:04-19:05
Do you want to be made well?
19:06-19:07
Write from the text.
19:07-19:09
Here's five things you need to do to get better.
19:10-19:12
Five things you need to do to get better.
19:13-19:17
And number one, you have to want to.
19:17-19:18
It starts here.
19:19-19:19
You have to want to.
19:20-19:21
You have to want to.
19:22-19:30
It all starts with How you answer the question, "Do you want to be made well?" I mean, like, honestly answering the question.
19:31-19:33
In other words, are you comfortable in your place?
19:34-19:36
Have you excused your inability to change?
19:37-19:38
Have you settled for less?
19:40-19:49
Have you gotten to the point with whatever your thing is - you know what it is - have you gotten to the point in your life that you're like, "Well, there's just really nothing more to life.
19:49-19:50
This is it.
19:50-19:59
Nothing's ever really going to change for me." and you just have this attitude of defeat that you're carrying around, like, "This is it. It's not going to get better for me. This is it.
20:00-20:05
I'm just resolving myself that it's going to stink from here until the grave.
20:05-20:18
It's just not going to get any different or any better for me." And I would suggest to you, if that's your attitude, you're just like this guy at first, when Jesus says, "Do you want to be made well?"
20:20-20:21
(mumbling)
20:22-20:23
Like, what?
20:24-20:25
How about yes?
20:25-20:26
How about that?
20:28-20:32
Maybe you've never really considered that God has something better for you.
20:33-20:35
God has something more for you.
20:35-20:38
And if you wanna get to a better place, you have to start here.
20:38-20:44
You have to say, this is not what I want for my life, because this is not what Jesus wants for my life.
20:46-20:51
This sin that I'm in bondage to, this debt, this whatever it is.
20:51-20:52
It's not okay.
20:52-20:54
It's not okay to live like this.
20:55-21:01
And if Jesus is asking me if I want to be made well, He's not taunting me.
21:02-21:05
If He's asking me, that means He's willing to get me there.
21:05-21:12
But look, all I can tell you is it starts with this truly profound question.
21:13-21:14
Do you want to be made well?
21:14-21:15
You have to want to.
21:16-21:25
And with all due respect, if your answer is no, then go back to doodle on your bulletin or something.
21:25-21:37
Or maybe there's a magazine in the seat back you can read, but the rest of the sermon is not really going to apply to you if you don't want to experience everything that God wants for you.
21:38-21:38
That's where it starts.
21:38-21:39
You have to want to.
21:40-21:44
Number two - five things you need to do to get better.
21:44-21:46
is you've got to stop blaming others for your problems.
21:47-21:49
You have to stop blaming others for your problems.
21:50-21:53
You notice the man's response in verse 7?
21:55-22:00
His response was in two parts, and both of them involved blaming other people.
22:00-22:01
Did you catch that?
22:02-22:13
Jesus says, "Do you want to be made well?" He's like, "Well, Jesus, I'm going to give you a sermon right now." Two points. Point number one, "No one helps me." Okay, point number two, and I'm concluding.
22:14-22:16
Everyone cuts in front of me.
22:17-22:18
Blaming others for your problems.
22:20-22:28
What this man did was settle into an identity that people love to embrace today, and it's victim mentality.
22:28-22:31
I'm a victim, I'm a victim, I've been wronged.
22:32-22:44
I've been wronged by somebody somewhere, somehow, somebody said something that I don't prefer, or somebody did something that wouldn't have been my choice, and now I'm a victim.
22:45-22:47
And we just thrive on that stuff.
22:48-22:49
And that was this guy.
22:52-22:56
Here, God is standing in front of him, saying, do you want to be made well?
22:56-22:57
Nobody helps me.
22:57-22:59
Everyone cuts in front of me.
22:59-23:01
All right, thanks for that update, Eeyore.
23:02-23:10
Now listen, I'm not saying that other people's actions don't have a direct impact on our situation sometimes.
23:10-23:19
Can we stop explaining to God that the reason we haven't let Him have control of our lives is because other people have control of our lives?
23:19-23:21
Can we stop reasoning that out with God?
23:21-23:27
Like, yeah, I see what you say in your word, God, but you don't understand what my co-worker's like.
23:29-23:31
And our Lord is like, "Well, they must be a pretty important person.
23:32-23:36
"If they have more of an impact on your life, than you're allowing me to have in your life.
23:37-23:39
My work would be so much better.
23:40-23:47
I'd be a better employee, but my co-workers have nothing to do with that.
23:49-23:51
Or let's hit a little closer to home for some of you.
23:52-24:05
My marriage would be so much better, but my wife is such a-- or my husband, you don't understand, I could be the best wife in the world, that my husband is such...
24:07-24:07
How about this?
24:08-24:18
God, if I'm going to get better, you're going to be the reason, regardless of what anyone is doing or not doing.
24:21-24:23
For some of you, you need today.
24:23-24:24
So you know what, I'm done.
24:25-24:33
I'm done laying around like this guy, pointing to everybody else as being my problem while God's asking me if I want to get to a better place.
24:33-24:34
I'm done with that.
24:37-24:39
Number three, stop doing things your way.
24:40-24:41
Stop doing things your way.
24:42-24:43
Do you wanna get better?
24:45-24:46
Stop doing things your way.
24:47-24:50
This guy, this guy had one plan to get better.
24:51-24:52
What was his plan?
24:52-24:55
He goes, I can't move.
24:56-24:57
Been like this almost four decades.
24:59-24:59
I'm gonna get better.
24:59-25:00
What was his plan?
25:01-25:03
His plan was the magic angel bubbles, right?
25:04-25:05
That was his plan.
25:06-25:09
And you see, he pushed all his chips into that.
25:09-25:11
He's like, I'm pushing all my chips into this.
25:11-25:13
This is my plan to get better.
25:14-25:20
When the angel comes splashing around, I'm going to get in that water.
25:21-25:28
And then you're going to see, I'm going to skip out of here.
25:29-25:33
And at this point, the question was, yeah, how's that plan working out for you?
25:34-25:37
38 years later, how's that working for you?
25:38-25:44
And I love the fact that Jesus didn't offer to help him with his plan.
25:44-25:45
Did you catch that?
25:47-25:48
Jesus is like, do you want to be made well?
25:49-25:53
And the guy's like, yeah, yeah, I've got to get in the magic angel bubbles.
25:53-25:55
And Jesus is like, that's a great idea.
25:56-25:58
I'll tell you what, buddy, I'll stay right here with you.
25:58-26:03
And when the angels start splashing around, we'll beat the pants off these other people.
26:04-26:05
It's not even going to be close.
26:05-26:12
I'm going to scoop you up, and I'm going to throw you in cannonball, and you're going to come out an Olympian.
26:13-26:14
It's going to be awesome.
26:16-26:19
Jesus didn't go with this guy's plan, did he?
26:20-26:23
Jesus said, OK, you're going to get better, but you're going to get better my way.
26:24-26:25
Do you want to be made well?
26:26-26:31
Well, obviously, if your plan isn't working, maybe you're going about it in the wrong way.
26:33-26:37
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over and expecting a different result.
26:38-26:43
And if we're honest, that's a truth that hits a little too close to home for some of us.
26:44-26:57
Like, you know, Pastor Jeff, you mentioned earlier, the whole pornography thing. I've had this shame in my life, And I just can't seem to break that bondage.
26:57-26:58
Well, what has your plan been?
27:00-27:01
Has it worked for you?
27:03-27:04
I want to get out of debt.
27:04-27:06
I want to be in a better place financially.
27:08-27:10
Well, how has your plan to date worked?
27:13-27:15
And I would suggest to you that maybe you need a new way.
27:16-27:18
It hasn't worked yet.
27:18-27:19
Maybe you need a new way.
27:20-27:21
Well, what way is that?
27:23-27:24
Well, that's number four.
27:25-27:26
Do what Jesus says to do.
27:28-27:29
That's the new way.
27:30-27:32
This man did have a choice, right?
27:33-27:37
He could trust and do what Jesus told him to do or he could just lay there.
27:39-27:40
But he obeyed.
27:41-27:43
And I would ask you, do you want to be made better?
27:43-27:44
Do you want to be healed?
27:46-27:50
What is God's Spirit, through God's Word, telling you your next step is.
27:51-27:52
For you. For your situation.
27:53-27:54
For the thing that's crippling you.
27:54-27:57
What is God's Spirit through God's Word telling you?
27:57-27:58
Hey, here's your next step.
27:59-28:04
I have a feeling, for those of you who walk with the Lord, you know what the next step is.
28:04-28:06
You know exactly what the next step is.
28:06-28:08
You know what you should do.
28:08-28:09
You just haven't done it.
28:10-28:18
And if you're sitting here today and you're like, Pastor Jeff, I have no idea what the next step is for me, I would ask you, are you even seeking the Lord on this?
28:20-28:25
Are you even listening to what Jesus is telling you to do to get out of the place you're in?
28:27-28:30
Are you looking for that from Him?
28:31-28:34
Or are you just laying there making your excuses and pointing fingers?
28:35-28:41
You have to do what Jesus tells you to do if you want to experience the life He wants you to experience.
28:43-28:46
That's why in verse 8 he gives a three-part command.
28:48-28:54
And I love this because it's so simple, and it's progressive, and it's transforming.
28:56-28:57
Here's Jesus' three-part plan.
28:57-28:59
He's like, "Okay, your thing isn't working.
28:59-29:00
Here's what you're going to do instead.
29:01-29:08
You're going to get up, you're going to take up your bed, and you're going to walk." And you know those three things?
29:08-29:10
Those are the three things he's calling you to do today, too.
29:11-29:18
You're like, "But I'm... my legs are fine, I'm not a..." Look, it's the same three principles, the exact same three principles.
29:19-29:20
Drop these down.
29:22-29:24
Letter A, the first thing Jesus is telling you to do is get up.
29:25-29:26
Get up.
29:27-29:29
That's not in your power.
29:30-29:34
What that meant for this man and what this means for you is you need to trust His power.
29:35-29:37
Jesus didn't tell this guy to get up in his strength.
29:37-29:46
He said, "Get up in My strength that I'm giving you." Jesus provides His power through His Holy Spirit for everyone who will trust Him.
29:47-29:56
So you've got to start trusting the power of Christ in your life, and stop trying to trust your own power that's left you laying there for 38 years.
29:57-30:00
Get up in the power of the Lord.
30:01-30:05
Letter B, "Take up your bed." What does that mean?
30:05-30:08
That means make no provision to come back here.
30:08-30:10
Make no provision to go back to your old ways.
30:11-30:12
That's why Jesus told him to take his bed.
30:14-30:18
It wasn't like, "You're going to do better for a while, but leave the bed here.
30:18-30:33
Just in case this being well thing isn't working out so good for you, you can come back and lay by the pool." No, He was saying, "Take it. You're not going to need it here anymore." That's what the New Testament refers to as making no provision for the flesh.
30:35-30:38
That means you might have to cut off that relationship you know you shouldn't be in.
30:40-30:43
It means you need to stop going back to that place that keeps getting you into trouble.
30:44-30:50
It's no looking back, burn the bridges, this chapter of your life is over, you're not coming back.
30:52-30:55
So get up in the power of the Holy Spirit.
30:55-30:58
Take up your bed, make no provision for the flesh.
30:58-31:00
And what did Jesus tell them to do third?
31:00-31:08
He said, "Walk." Walk. That's moving forward, expecting continued success.
31:08-31:13
In other words, you're a forgiven, transformed, born again child of God.
31:13-31:15
So walk like it.
31:15-31:23
Stop walking like somebody that doesn't know the Lord, or His power, or His Word, or His goodness, or His wisdom, limping through life.
31:23-31:29
Walk like a child who has received the power and gift of God.
31:29-31:32
to walk confidently yet humbly before the Lord.
31:33-31:33
Walk like it.
31:34-31:37
That's what the New Testament refers to as walking worthy of the Gospel.
31:38-31:40
So do what Jesus says to do.
31:40-31:45
And then finally, number five, live in gratitude to Jesus.
31:46-31:48
Live in gratitude to Jesus. I love verse 14.
31:50-31:52
Jesus finds the guy again in the temple.
31:52-31:54
Did you see the first thing Jesus says to him?
31:55-31:55
Kind of cracks me up.
31:56-32:02
He's like, "See, you were well." The guy's like, "I am! Wow! You know, I forgot.
32:03-32:16
You know, those five minutes of walking kind of blocked out the last 38 years of laying, so thanks for the reminder that I'm still well." Like, did the guy really need reminded?
32:16-32:19
I mean, come on, come on. Did the guy really need reminded?
32:21-32:25
And the answer is yes, he did, because we all do.
32:25-32:37
I don't know about you, but I see very blatantly in my life that I have this tendency to experience God's grace and immediately go back to old attitudes and habits, forgetting what He's done for me.
32:37-32:38
How about you?
32:39-32:52
God shows up in a profound way and does something that only He can do, and we are so blessed at the presence and work of the Lord, and then we go about our business and we just forget.
32:52-32:53
We just forget.
32:54-32:58
you know we're back to laying by the pool complaining about everybody.
32:59-33:01
Living in gratitude keeps us from living in sin.
33:02-33:05
Living in gratitude keeps us from living in sin.
33:05-33:06
So live in gratitude to Jesus.
33:07-33:08
Do you want to be made well?
33:09-33:11
You can get to a better place.
33:12-33:14
You don't have to settle for where you are.
33:15-33:25
You don't have to hope that someday your way of doing things that have always ultimately failed are just going to magically bring about a different result because it won't.
33:27-33:45
God supplies the grace, the power, the wisdom, and the continued success of a transformed life and all you need to supply is the one thing that to this point maybe you haven't. That's your will. Do you want to be made well? Let's pray.
33:46-33:53
Father in heaven, we thank you for the simple yet profound nature of your Word.
33:54-34:15
Boy, we saw some things in here that just baffled my mind, that hits a little close to home when I really stop and think about it. Father, I pray for my brothers and sisters here, and I pray for my brothers and sisters who are listening to this online, whether they're sick and couldn't join us today or They're listening on the other side of the world.
34:18-34:20
Father, so many of us can identify with that guy by the pool.
34:21-34:31
Something in our lives has crippled us, and we've been so content to just lay around and make excuses and blame everybody else for our problems.
34:32-34:47
Today, Father, I pray with fresh eyes we would see Christ showing up, asking us if we want to get to a better place, if we want to be made well, if we're willing to abandon what we've been doing and what we've known for what He has for us instead.
34:49-34:53
Father, I pray specifically that You would, by Your Spirit, change our heart and give us the will.
34:54-35:09
Father, I pray that we would leave here today no longer willing to be content, to settle, but instead, Father, our hearts are wide open to receive whatever it is You have for us.
35:10-35:15
Give us the faith to get up and to pick up our mat and to walk.
35:16-35:20
Through the incomparable name of your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray.
35:21-35:21
Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 5:1-18

What was your big takeaway from this passage / message?
Why do you think some people do NOT want to be made well? (John 5:6)
Why do you think we naturally tend to point fingers and blame others for our troubles? (John 5:7)
How does living in gratitude keep us from living in sin? (John 5:14)
What specifically has God done for YOU that you could use reminded of?

Breakout
With which of the “5 things needed to get better” do you struggle the most with? Why? Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

December 8, 2019

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Sovereignty

Jeff Miller

December 8, 2019

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

Knowing Jesus Through Desperation (John 4:43-54):

Desperation must Drive us to Jesus. (John 4:46-49)
Desperation must seek the Gift-giver , not just the gift. (John 4:50)
Desperation (Leading to Faith) discovers that Jesus always Overdelivers . (John 4:51-54)

G@W Mertiffs from Harvest Pittsburgh North on Vimeo.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:10-01:13
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to John chapter 4.
01:17-01:25
John chapter 4, we're going through the Gospel of John in a series called "Knowing Jesus." And that's what we're going after.
01:25-01:30
We want to go from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
01:31-01:33
And that theme is going to continue.
01:34-01:37
However, we will be taking a break from John after this week.
01:38-01:44
We're getting into Christmas, Q&A day, and we have a very special series in January that you will be hearing more about.
01:46-01:48
This is the last message in John for a while.
01:49-01:51
Let's talk about knowing Jesus.
01:53-01:59
You know, many years ago, my son Cade had a betta fish.
02:01-02:02
And his name was Marvin.
02:04-02:07
And as betta fish go, was a handsome betta fish.
02:09-02:13
And he was in this little bowl, and he sat on the mantle.
02:14-02:16
And Marvin was just such an important part of our family.
02:16-02:17
Who has fish here?
02:18-02:18
Fish people?
02:20-02:21
OK, so it's just me.
02:21-02:22
All right.
02:23-02:26
Just me and a couple really special people here.
02:29-02:30
Not important for the story.
02:30-02:31
But we had Marvin.
02:32-02:33
You know what a betta fish is, right?
02:33-02:43
One day, it was brought to my attention that Marvin was sort of floating on his side.
02:44-02:47
And you know how betta fish have all those frilly fins and tail things?
02:48-02:51
They were just sort of disheveled.
02:54-03:04
Now I'm no veterinarian, but I thought we were going to have a funeral slash flushing in the not-too-distant future.
03:06-03:18
And as always, trying to take a teaching opportunity, I sat down with Cade at the dining room table and I said, "We're going to pray for Mark." And we did.
03:19-03:20
We prayed for that fish.
03:22-03:26
You know, that fish made a full recovery.
03:29-03:33
and he lived for years after that.
03:33-03:38
He died since, but he lived for years after that.
03:40-03:50
And I'm just going to be honest with you, that whole series of events sort of left me, I guess, unsettled.
03:53-03:56
And you're like, why in the world would you be unsettled over that?
03:57-03:59
and it sounds pretty awesome.
04:01-04:03
I just sort of walked away from that.
04:03-04:04
I prayed for Marvin.
04:04-04:05
He made a full recovery.
04:06-04:13
And I just had to ask myself, am I like the Benny Hinn of fish?
04:15-04:18
I mean, am I like Aquaman's pastor?
04:20-04:22
I mean, don't get me wrong, we prayed.
04:25-04:31
One minute when I prayed for the fish, I really did mean it, but I'm just going to be honest with you, I wasn't desperate.
04:33-04:34
I wasn't desperate.
04:35-04:44
I wasn't on my face in tears crying out to the Lord that He would spare the life of this stupid fish.
04:45-04:47
No offense, Marvin.
04:49-04:50
I just wasn't desperate.
04:53-04:58
The truth is I've prayed much harder for other things.
04:58-05:03
I've prayed much longer for other things.
05:03-05:07
I've prayed much more desperately in my life for other things.
05:10-05:11
What about you?
05:14-05:18
You're like, "No, Pastor Jeff, I've never prayed for a fish." That's not what I'm talking about.
05:19-05:20
What about you?
05:20-05:23
Have you ever... have you just ever been desperate?
05:25-05:29
Can you point to a season in your life that you're like, "Man, I was so desperate right then.
05:31-05:35
I came to Jesus just so desperate." Have you been there?
05:35-05:37
Maybe it was because there was a bad accident.
05:39-05:41
Or maybe there was a health scare.
05:44-05:45
Maybe you had a death in your family.
05:49-05:50
Maybe you just suddenly lost your job.
05:54-05:56
Or maybe you discover that your marriage is on its deathbed.
05:59-06:00
Desperate.
06:01-06:09
In today's account that we'll be looking at in John, we're going to see a dad with a son on the brink of death.
06:10-06:18
And I can tell you, from my experience, there is no one more desperate than the parent of a sick child.
06:18-06:19
is not.
06:22-06:24
There's a lot in this account that resonates with me.
06:26-06:29
And I know there's a lot of people sitting in this room.
06:29-06:32
This account is going to resonate with you.
06:34-06:35
So let's just go after it, alright?
06:36-06:39
On your outline, knowing Jesus through desperation.
06:41-06:46
Knowing Jesus through desperation, number one, write this down first of all, Desperation must drive us to Jesus.
06:48-06:51
Desperation must drive us to Jesus.
06:54-07:10
Verse 43 says, "After the two days, he departed for Galilee, where Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown." Stop there for a second.
07:10-07:14
The two days were the two days he spent at Sychar ministering to the Samaritans.
07:14-07:15
We talked about that.
07:15-07:22
And Jesus testified a statement that I think we can all easily acknowledge is very true.
07:22-07:25
The prophet has no honor in his own hometown.
07:27-07:28
Familiarity breeds contempt.
07:29-07:31
Experts are from out of town.
07:32-07:35
That's why I love speaking other places.
07:36-07:38
Because when I'm speaking out of town, I'm the expert.
07:38-07:40
Just because I'm from out of town.
07:41-07:44
But that's one reason I hate bringing guest speakers into Harvest.
07:45-07:46
It happens every time.
07:46-07:56
You'll get some guy up here that says something, and somebody will come up and be like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, it changed my life when he said this." And it's something, I'm like, "Dude, I've been saying that for the last...
07:56-07:57
How old's this church?
07:57-08:02
I've been saying that for the last that many years!" "Oh, but because he said it.
08:03-08:09
You know, he's from Chicago." But we get that, right?
08:10-08:11
You know what I mean?
08:11-08:19
Like, you go back to your hometown, people don't quite look at you the way that they do in other places.
08:20-08:22
But why is this inserted here?
08:22-08:23
Well, it's just kind of pointing out the shift.
08:23-08:30
Jesus went from being loved by the hated Samaritans, and he's going to be hated by the beloved Jews.
08:31-08:47
Verse 45 says, "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." In other words, these people weren't like sold-out disciples of Jesus.
08:47-08:49
They were sort of like Nicodemus.
08:49-08:58
They kind of saw some things that he did, and they were sort of like fans of Jesus, but they weren't really like disciples yet at this point.
08:59-09:02
Look at verse 46 and 47.
09:02-09:08
It says, "So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine.
09:09-09:11
In the Capernaum, there was an official whose son was ill.
09:13-09:23
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.
09:24-09:30
Okay, so this was an official of the king, likely Herod Antipas, who was the son of Herod the Great.
09:34-09:43
But as I reference this man through the rest of this message, I'm going to call him "the dad." Because that's sort of how he is in this passage.
09:44-09:48
This is how he identifies, and this is how I kind of identify with him.
09:48-09:50
So I'm going to call him "the dad." Alright?
09:51-09:52
So what's going on here?
09:52-09:55
Well, Jesus had done a lot of miracles in Capernaum.
09:55-09:56
Like, a lot.
09:56-10:00
You're like, "I don't remember studying those in this series." We didn't in this series.
10:01-10:02
We read about those in the other Gospels.
10:03-10:06
John hasn't mentioned those ones in particular.
10:07-10:15
But Jesus performed a lot of miracles, and this dad, he knew that the miracle worker was in town.
10:17-10:19
And it says that his son was ill.
10:19-10:20
Ill with what?
10:20-10:22
Well, we're going to find out in verse 52.
10:22-10:25
It was something related to a fever.
10:29-10:32
Whatever it was, the Bible's clear.
10:32-10:34
It says that the son was at the point of death.
10:36-10:41
Let me ask you parents, if your child's at the point of death, what are you willing to do?
10:42-10:43
What are you willing to do?
10:44-10:47
You get wind that the miracle worker is nearby?
10:48-10:48
What are you doing?
10:49-10:50
I know what I'm doing.
10:50-10:52
I am tracking this guy down.
10:52-10:54
I am going after him.
10:54-10:55
That's what this dad did.
10:56-10:57
He came pleading.
11:01-11:09
"Come with me and heal my son." As usual, Jesus' response isn't what you expect.
11:09-11:10
Look at verse 48.
11:12-11:21
"So Jesus said to him, 'Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe.'" Where did that come from?
11:23-11:26
Is this a mild rebuke?
11:28-11:33
Is Jesus sort of like, "Shame on you, that you need this." I don't think that's the case.
11:35-11:46
Is this just matter of fact, that Jesus is like, "Allow me to point out a fact here for everyone listening, that some people will not believe." I don't think it's that either.
11:47-11:48
What do you think it is?
11:48-11:49
I'll tell you what I think it is.
11:51-11:52
That is the statement of grace.
11:55-11:56
You know why Jesus did miracles?
11:56-11:57
Do you know why?
11:58-12:04
Jesus wasn't trying to draw and dazzle crowds with miracles like, "Hey, watch this, watch this.
12:04-12:10
There's a quarter behind your ear." And everybody's like, "Oh, this must be the Son of God." He wasn't trying to dazzle people.
12:11-12:13
That wasn't why Jesus did miracles.
12:16-12:20
Jesus did miracles for the benefit those who were struggling to believe.
12:21-12:34
Here you have a man walking around saying, "I'm God in the flesh." People are like, "Yeah, I'm not so sure about that." And Jesus actually says in John 10, I think like verses 36 and 37, He said, "That's why I do miracles.
12:34-12:41
If you don't believe what I'm saying, look at the miracles I'm doing." And that should bring you to understand who I am.
12:44-12:47
So I think Jesus was just reaching out in grace.
12:48-12:54
"You know what? Some people aren't going to believe unless they have some proof, and I'm willing to do that." Look at v. 49.
12:56-13:04
"The official said to him, 'Sir, come down before my child dies.'" I totally get this, right?
13:05-13:16
The dad comes to Jesus, and he's like, "Come with me! My child's sick!" And Jesus said, "You won't believe unless you see a miracle." And the dad just totally ignores Jesus' statement.
13:17-13:21
Yeah, I'm going to need you to come with me, please.
13:23-13:25
And I totally get that, because when you're desperate, right?
13:25-13:30
When you're desperate, it's just like, "Okay, whatever, yeah, sure.
13:30-13:38
I won't believe without a miracle. Gotcha. Okay." I've got so much more on my mind right now, and I get where the dad's coming from here.
13:43-13:46
Desperation has a way of bringing people to Jesus.
13:47-13:48
It just does.
13:49-13:53
I mean, sure, we tend to try everything else first.
13:55-14:25
But, when the money runs out, or the medicine doesn't work, or that person that you were counting on to come and help you fails you, when you get to the point of true desperation, that you have nowhere else to turn, no other resources, then you will come to Jesus and say, "Jesus, I need You." Desperation must drive you to Jesus.
14:28-14:31
And I looked at that this week and I wrote that down.
14:33-14:36
And I thought, "Well, there's just not much to preach about that.
14:36-14:41
It just will. It just will." That is a true thing about life.
14:42-14:45
You get desperate enough, you're going to go to Jesus.
14:46-14:50
And if you're not there now, you will be.
14:52-14:58
But, I have a word for the church in regards to this.
15:01-15:09
You know, every week, the prayer team gets the prayer request that you write down on the friendship register.
15:09-15:14
You know, you write your prayer request on the bottom, and Brooke compiles those and she emails them to me and to the prayer team.
15:14-15:26
I get an email like this and I'll either write them down or I'll print them out and I'll go through and I'll pray for these as our prayer team is doing at the same time.
15:30-15:37
There are so many requests for healing.
15:40-15:49
And there's times that I wish that that thing that happened with that fish happened with all of these people.
15:52-15:53
So many requests for healing.
15:55-16:05
And I want to ask you, whether you're on the prayer team or whether you know somebody else that's sick and needs healing, I want to ask you, how do you pray for these?
16:07-16:17
You're like, "I pray that God would heal them." Okay. Let me ask you this way then.
16:19-16:25
What are you expecting to happen when you pray for healing for these people?
16:28-16:33
How do you envision the answer?
16:35-16:39
Because I want to tell you how I pray for these requests.
16:41-16:54
I do pray for healing, but I pray that the Lord would bring about healing in a way that brings people to Jesus Christ.
16:56-17:26
I pray something like this, "God, allow this desperation to be what you're going to use to wake that person up and bring them to you." I pray something like, "Lord, please heal them and use this to make them think about life and death, to make them willing to listen to your gospel." I pray, "God, put someone in their path that's going to share your gospel and is going to love them in the Lord.
17:26-17:38
God, put that person in their path and allow this healing to get them to, or sickness or illness or whatever, to really get them thinking about you.
17:41-17:43
And church, I want to encourage you to pray that way.
17:44-17:45
I want you to think about something.
17:48-17:58
If the person that you're praying for, for healing, doesn't know Jesus Christ, why would we pray for just healing for them?
18:00-18:00
to delay hell?
18:04-18:06
Or rather, should we say, "Lord, use this.
18:07-18:08
You brought this into their life, Father.
18:09-18:12
In Your sovereignty, You've allowed this in their life.
18:12-18:17
God, please use this as the thing that's going to be like this dad.
18:17-18:25
Run to Jesus and say, 'I need You!'" Let this desperation bring them to Jesus.
18:27-18:30
Test number one, Desperation must drive us to Jesus and church.
18:32-18:33
Please continue to be faithful in prayer.
18:35-18:38
But I want you to think about how you're praying and what you're praying for.
18:39-18:40
Pray for healing.
18:43-18:48
And I would say healing that is both physical and spiritual.
18:50-18:52
Number two, jot this down.
18:52-18:59
The desperation must seek the gift giver, not just the gift.
19:01-19:06
Look at verse 50, because this verse is the whole turning point of this whole passage.
19:07-19:29
Okay, so you have this scene, the guy's like, "Jesus, come with me, my son's dying." And Jesus said, "Well, unless you see signs of wonders you're not going to believe." And he's like, "Okay, please come because my child's going to die, right?" Look at verse 50. "Jesus said to him, 'Go, your son will live.'" This is the sentence that changes everything right here.
19:30-19:44
"The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way." You see, he believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
19:46-19:51
You see, the dad could have, like so many people, just gotten angry with Jesus.
19:52-19:58
You mean to tell me, "I asked you twice if you would come to heal my kid, and you can't be bothered? You can't take the time to come with me?
19:59-19:59
Just you tell me to go?
20:03-20:10
Thanks. Thanks for nothing." I have a feeling the Lord gets that a lot.
20:12-20:15
"But you didn't do what I wanted you to do?
20:15-20:22
I put in my request and you didn't perform to my liking, Jesus?" Not this dad.
20:23-20:28
Because the very first statement there in that sentence, it says, "The man believed the Word." But Jesus spoke to him.
20:29-20:39
So this dad went from believing Jesus works, believing Jesus could do a miracle, to believing Jesus' words.
20:40-20:41
And he acted upon them.
20:42-20:46
And you need to have that underlined in your Bible, church, because this is what faith looks like.
20:46-20:47
We talk about faith all the time.
20:47-20:48
Have faith, have faith.
20:49-20:52
Faith is what God calls us to.
20:52-20:53
What is faith?
20:53-20:54
Well, it's not a feeling.
20:55-20:56
Some people think that's what faith is.
20:56-20:57
It's just a feeling.
20:59-21:01
Faith isn't positive thinking.
21:04-21:06
Faith is acting on the word of God.
21:06-21:07
That's what faith is.
21:09-21:11
It's acting on the word of God.
21:13-21:21
Faith is believing the Word of Christ, what He said, to the point that it moves me.
21:23-21:28
It's not, listen, faith is not just wanting the works of Christ.
21:28-21:29
That's not faith.
21:30-21:33
To say, "Jesus, what can you do for me?" That's not faith.
21:34-21:37
It's believing the Word, not just the works.
21:37-21:41
And you're like, "Well, what's the difference?" The difference is everything.
21:44-22:05
A couple years ago, we took my son Owen to a doctor, a new doctor for us, a doctor that was somewhat famous in autism circles because we were in a desperate situation.
22:08-22:18
And this doctor, this doctor was, I'm thinking of a politically correct way to say this.
22:20-22:21
How about we'll say this.
22:22-22:25
This doctor's bedside manner was unpolished.
22:27-22:28
You tracking with me?
22:29-22:30
Some of you are not.
22:30-22:32
Okay, here's the non-politically correct version.
22:33-22:35
He sort of came across as a cocky jerk.
22:37-22:52
And that really hit the breaking point when he began disparaging another doctor who had become a friend of ours through our autism journey.
22:53-23:00
This new doctor just, he started on this other doctor, just ripped him up one side, down the other.
23:00-23:03
Obnoxious and unprofessional.
23:06-23:06
It just was.
23:08-23:15
Like, we're paying you to sit in your office and listen to you badmouth somebody that we care about?
23:16-23:22
Which, by the way, he didn't have all the details of the story that he was bashing him for, but that's...
23:22-23:25
since when do we let truth get in the way of a good story, right?
23:27-23:36
So, we're sitting in this new doctor's office, and he's ripping this other doctor up, And then, I guess I'm not good with the poker face.
23:38-23:53
Because he stopped and he said, this doctor said to me, "I can tell that you don't really seem to like me for saying that." And I said to him, "I'm not here to be your friend.
23:55-24:01
I'm here to see if you can help myself." You see, here's the point.
24:01-24:04
people bring to Jesus.
24:06-24:08
The attitude that I had with the doctor.
24:10-24:12
Like, "Look, Jesus, just do your thing.
24:13-24:15
I'm not interested in you personally.
24:16-24:20
I'm not interested in Bible and church and born again.
24:21-24:23
I'm not interested in all that stuff, Jesus.
24:24-24:26
Can you just fix my problem?
24:28-24:30
I'm not here to be your friend, Jesus.
24:30-24:41
I'm just so desperate for Jesus to fix something, but I'm not really desperate for Jesus, for the life and the forgiveness and the transformation that He offers.
24:44-24:46
You see, when that's your attitude, that's not faith.
24:48-24:49
That's not believing unto eternal life.
24:50-24:52
That's treating Jesus like He's Santa Claus.
24:52-24:55
Here's my list, cash in for me, give me what I want.
24:56-24:57
Jesus isn't Santa Claus.
24:57-25:00
He's the Savior and He's the Lord.
25:03-25:06
But oh, so many times strangers will call me.
25:06-25:07
The phone will ring.
25:09-25:13
"Hi, Pastor, I got your number from the internet and I just Googled this.
25:14-25:19
I'm really desperate and I really need some help." And I will invite these people.
25:19-25:33
They'll come sit in my office and I'll share the gospel with them and then give them a handout and I will never see them again." And the question really becomes, what are you desperate for?
25:35-25:36
Are you desperate for the gift?
25:38-25:39
Or are you desperate for the gift-giver?
25:43-26:07
Are you, "Just give me what I want, Jesus, and I'll be on my way." Or are you desperate for Jesus that you come and say, "You know what, my need is actually way bigger than I thought it was." And in God's sovereignty, He's going to allow you to be so desperate that you run to Him.
26:11-26:16
But when you come like this dad, you have to be willing to do what He says.
26:18-26:23
Like, "Stop, stop right there." You're like, "Okay, okay, why should I do that?
26:24-26:28
I mean, why shouldn't I just come to Jesus for what I want?
26:30-26:39
Pastor Jeff, what would motivate me to believe in Jesus when all I really needed was a favor from Him?
26:40-26:47
What's my motivation?" I'm really glad you asked that question, because look at number three.
26:48-26:56
Desperation leading to faith discovers that Jesus always over-delivers.
26:59-27:01
Look at the rest of this passage.
27:03-27:13
And as he was going down, Jesus said, "Go, your son will live, man believe, on his way." Okay? Verse 51.
27:13-27:19
"As he was going down, his servants" - this dad's servants - He's recovering!
27:20-27:21
So he asked them the hour.
27:22-27:44
When it 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." And he himself believed in all his household.
27:45-27:50
This was now the second sign when He had come from Judea to Galilee.
27:52-27:52
Obvious here, right?
27:53-27:55
The dad sort of connected the dots on the timing.
27:55-27:56
Like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
27:57-28:00
When did you say my son got better?" And they're like, "It was like the seventh hour.
28:00-28:03
Boom, he's better." And the dad's like, "The seventh hour?
28:03-28:06
That was like when I was talking to Jesus.
28:06-28:10
That's when that happened." In verse 53, this is key.
28:10-28:11
You have to underline this in your Bible.
28:12-28:16
It says, "He himself believed." In the Greek, that's emphatic, right?
28:17-28:19
It's He Himself believed.
28:21-28:23
Meaning His faith went to another level.
28:25-28:26
The lights came on.
28:27-28:28
It all clicked.
28:30-28:33
That this dad was like, "I see now why He did what He did.
28:34-28:36
I see why Jesus didn't come with me.
28:36-28:38
He was showing me His sovereignty.
28:38-28:43
He was able to heal my son from a distance with just a word.
28:43-28:46
I see who He is now.
28:47-28:49
He's not just some medicine man.
28:51-28:52
He's got to be the Sovereign of the Universe.
28:56-28:57
That's how it is with faith.
28:57-29:04
You see, faith is not, "Hey, you see it, and then you'll believe it." Faith actually works the opposite way.
29:05-29:19
Faith says, "You believe it, and then you're going to see." You believe, you act upon the Word of Christ, and you will see Him working.
29:22-29:25
And your faith is going to go to another level.
29:25-29:26
And not just your faith.
29:27-29:36
You see in verse 53, "He took it to his household." That would have been, I don't know, who all lived with him - his wife, other kids, in-laws, servants, whatever.
29:37-29:42
The point is, everyone in his household came to believe in Jesus Christ.
29:45-29:56
I asked a question a couple of minutes ago, "What would motivate me to believe in Jesus when all I need is a favor from Him?
29:56-30:01
What in the world would motivate me?" Pastor Jeff, here it is. You ready?
30:03-30:06
because Jesus always over-delivers.
30:08-30:17
This dad came to Jesus desperate for a physical healing, and what this dad received by faith was way more than that!
30:18-30:23
His son was healed, and he and his whole household were saved.
30:27-30:32
I want to encourage you, for those of you that are going to heaven, Check this dad down when you get there.
30:35-30:39
And I want you to ask him...
30:39-30:41
This is the second dumbest question you're going to hear today.
30:42-30:44
The first was, is he worthy?
30:44-30:45
Yeah. Jesus is worthy.
30:49-30:49
Here's a dumb question.
30:50-30:57
Go to this dad in heaven and say, when you believed the Word of Jesus Christ, you know that day your son was sick?
30:57-30:58
He believed.
30:59-31:00
Was it worth it?
31:02-31:03
Was it worth it?
31:05-31:11
And this dad is going to say, "Jesus gave me so much more than I was asking for.
31:12-31:19
Jesus Christ way over-delivered." Yeah, it was worth it.
31:21-31:26
Now, this is one story of God's sovereignty.
31:27-31:36
This is a story of how God allowed someone to become so desperate that he came to Jesus to fix something.
31:38-31:43
And because he believed Jesus' Word, the man and his household were never the same.
31:45-31:46
It's a pretty amazing story, isn't it?
31:49-31:50
You want to hear another story like this?
31:52-31:53
Turn your attention to the screen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 4:43-54

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message? Does it change how you pray for healing for those who are sick / injured?
The dad (official) obviously believed in Jesus (on some level) in order to come to Him in the first place (John 4:47). Then John 4:53 says he himself believed. What’s the difference?
Tell of a time you definitely saw a miracle. How did you know it was a miracle? How did it affect you?

BREAKOUT
Pray for those who need healing, that they would be desperate not just for the gift, but for the Gift-Giver!

Jeff Miller

December 1, 2019

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Mission

Jeff Miller

December 1, 2019

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

When I See the Mission Like Jesus (John 4:27-42):

Make it the Priority . (John 4:31-34)
I see it as a Team effort. (John 4:35-38)
1 Corinthians 3:6-8 - I (Paul) planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.

I invest in those who are Responding . (John 4:39-42)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:10-01:13
Open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 4.
01:13-01:15
We're going to be picking up in verse 27.
01:16-01:25
And if you do not have a Bible, there are Bibles in the seat backs in front of you and you can keep that and consider it a gift from your friends at harvest.
01:26-01:30
While you're turning there, I'm going to ask if you would please to pray for me.
01:31-01:33
And I'll take a moment and pray for you.
01:34-01:34
Let's pray.
01:35-01:37
Father, we believe that you wrote this book.
01:38-01:43
And therefore, you deserve all the attention that we can possibly give.
01:44-01:48
Open our hearts and our minds, Father, to receive Your Word.
01:49-01:52
I just ask, Father, You speak through me. Get me out of the way.
01:52-01:56
Just broadcast the message through my voice today, Father.
01:57-01:58
We ask You in Jesus' name.
01:59-02:12
And all of God's people said, "Amen." Our series this year is called "Knowing Jesus." You can tell a lot about a person by what they're passionate about.
02:13-02:22
Whether it's sports, or painting, or dogs, or guitars, or exercise, or hunting, or politics.
02:23-02:27
I find it really easy to talk to people I don't know.
02:28-02:34
Because within the first minute of conversation, you can find out what they're passionate about, and you just talk about that.
02:34-02:36
And I was thinking about that this week.
02:36-02:59
Could you imagine if Jesus physically here on the earth with us today, which is going to happen someday, maybe today later, but imagine if Jesus were here today, and we took Him to lunch after church, and we said, "Jesus, why don't you share with us a little bit about what you are passionate about?" What do you think Jesus would want to talk about?
03:00-03:06
We're going to see in this passage exactly what Jesus is passionate about and what He would talk about.
03:06-03:08
Look at v. 27 with me.
03:08-03:09
John 4. Are you there?
03:10-03:13
It says, "Just then, His disciples came back.
03:13-03:16
They marveled that He was talking with a woman.
03:16-03:23
But no one said, 'What do you seek?' or 'Why are you talking with her?'" Let's stop there for a second.
03:24-03:28
There's a huge miracle that takes place in this verse.
03:29-03:30
Seriously. Did you see it?
03:31-03:33
The huge miracle took place in this verse.
03:34-03:38
You're like, "You mean that Jesus talked to a woman?" No, it wasn't that.
03:39-03:45
You're like, "Because the disciples had questions and they were able to keep their mouths shut and not ask Him?" I don't mean that either.
03:46-03:49
The huge miracle - look at the first two words.
03:50-03:57
"Just then." And I know in English we can read through that very quickly, and that's why it's such a benefit to slow down and really study.
03:58-04:01
In the Greek, this is emphasized.
04:02-04:15
It's like if you were reading it the way it was written, you would get to this place and you would say, "Just then, his disciples came back." And that's the miracle here, is the timing of all of this.
04:16-04:17
Like, well, what do you mean?
04:18-04:20
Why don't you think about the timing of this whole event?
04:20-04:28
And the previous passage we covered last week, Jesus speaking with the woman at the well, You can get online and listen to that again.
04:28-04:41
But that's where the story picks up, where Jesus witnesses to this woman about who he is, and she runs off to tell the villagers, you're going to see here in a second.
04:41-04:42
He reveals to her that he's the Messiah.
04:43-04:48
But the huge miracle here is the timing of all of this.
04:48-04:53
Do you notice Jesus arrives at the well, just when the woman is there.
04:54-05:01
The disciples had gone to get food, which is incredible because that way Jesus could speak with her alone.
05:01-05:05
I mean, the woman might not have opened up if there were a bunch of dudes standing around, right?
05:06-05:16
And then your Bible says, "Just then!" At this point in the conversation, when Jesus revealed to this woman that He is the Christ, just then the disciples came back.
05:17-05:18
And that's huge.
05:19-05:23
Because if they came back any earlier, they would have interrupted the conversation, right?
05:24-05:32
"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" And if they came back any later, they wouldn't have known that Jesus had the conversation with the woman at all.
05:33-05:37
And somebody might look at this and think that is a crazy coincidence, isn't it?
05:38-05:39
You know what coincidence is?
05:39-05:40
I heard somebody say it one time.
05:40-05:42
Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.
05:43-05:45
This isn't coincidence. This is providence.
05:46-05:48
Have you ever had a story like that in your life?
05:48-05:59
That the timing was just so insane that you're like, "God had to have orchestrated this!" I want to tell you about a time that happened in my life, just real quick.
05:59-06:00
This isn't even really part of the sermon.
06:00-06:01
This is just bonus.
06:01-06:02
We're not going to charge you any extra for that.
06:05-06:09
But years ago, I went to do a funeral for the father of a friend of mine.
06:10-06:11
It was out in Columbus, Ohio.
06:12-06:24
And I didn't want to drive all the way out there with my tie on, so I'm like, "Well, I'll just take my tie." And I'll, with the GPS, when I find a place near the funeral home, I'll just stop and get out and use the bathroom, put my tie on and then I'll go to the funeral home.
06:25-06:27
Okay, so the first place I stopped was this gas station.
06:28-06:34
I'm like, okay, I'll just see if they have a restroom here and I'm gonna gross gas station bathrooms I know.
06:34-06:38
But I pulled in and there were bars on the window of the gas station.
06:38-06:40
And I said, maybe we'll keep looking for a place.
06:41-06:46
So I saw this little diner and I pulled into this diner and I'm like, well, surely they have a restroom I can use.
06:47-06:51
And I went in and I put my tie on and you know that little voice in your head?
06:52-06:57
A lot of times for me, it's the Holy Spirit speaking and his still small voice.
06:58-07:01
Sometimes it's my conscience, I think.
07:01-07:04
Sometimes my conscience sounds exactly like my wife.
07:04-07:12
And that's why in this case, you're gonna understand here in a second, I'm not sure if this was the Holy Spirit or my wife in my head, maybe a combination of both.
07:13-07:18
But what I heard in my head was, you can't just stop in here and use the bathroom and not buy something to eat, right?
07:18-07:19
I'm like, well, I'm not hungry.
07:20-07:22
And I think that was Erin, because Erin was like, you just can't do that.
07:23-07:24
I'm like, well, I didn't really use the bathroom.
07:24-07:25
I just used the mirror.
07:25-07:26
And like, what's the rate for that?
07:27-07:29
Like, so I'm like, all right, you know what?
07:30-07:33
I know I'm gonna tell Erin this story later and she's gonna say, did you buy something there?
07:34-07:35
Because you can't just, and I'm like, all right, all right.
07:35-07:37
So I said, all right, I'm not really hungry.
07:37-07:38
So I bought a meal to go.
07:39-07:40
I'll just buy something to go.
07:40-07:43
They put it in one of those styrofoam clamshell container things.
07:43-07:46
And I walk out to my car, you know, all in my suit.
07:46-07:51
And there's this large man standing in front of my car, just weeping.
07:52-07:54
I'm like, "Oh, I don't have time for this.
07:54-08:01
I'm on my way to a funeral." And I walked up to the man, I'm like, "Can I help you?" And then all of a sudden, I couldn't believe what I saw.
08:02-08:07
This man was a very good friend of mine from 20 years ago when I used to live near Columbus.
08:08-08:12
I stayed in contact with him through social media and email and things like that, even on phone.
08:12-08:17
I was like, "What are you doing?" He lived on the other side of town.
08:18-08:20
And this is a really long story, but I'm making it really short, believe me.
08:22-08:28
He got stranded, it was winter time, and he was walking home and his shoes literally fell apart.
08:29-08:33
And being diabetic, he had some toes amputated and his feet were all bandaged.
08:33-08:36
He's walking home barefoot in the snow, just weeping.
08:36-08:37
He was in such horrible pain.
08:39-08:41
And I said, "Get in, I'll take you home.
08:41-08:54
"You don't have to, yes, I do have to get in, "I'm gonna take you home." So he got in the car. I said, "Are you hungry?" He goes, "I am so hungry." I'm like, "I got a hot meal right here!" Boom! Took him home.
08:54-08:59
We had this most amazing spiritual conversation about the Lord, about heaven, about life.
09:00-09:01
And I took him home.
09:02-09:04
And like I said, that's the extremely short version of the story.
09:04-09:09
But I stepped back from that. I'm like, "Is that coincidence?" Could that have possibly been coincidence?
09:09-09:11
Think of everything that had to happen timing-wise.
09:12-09:29
We're in downtown Columbus, Ohio, and he just happened to be walking, and he arrived at that spot while I was in this diner, which wasn't even my first choice to stop, and he was hungry, and I had a hot meal.
09:30-09:38
And somebody would say, "Wow, Jeff, that is a crazy coincidence." And I'd say, "You're insane!" That was God at work.
09:38-09:40
And that's the miracle that happens here.
09:40-09:41
The first miracle.
09:42-09:43
The timing of all of this.
09:43-09:45
Like I said, that's not even the sermon.
09:45-09:46
That's just bonus content.
09:47-09:48
Let's look at verse 28.
09:48-09:50
My point is God does that in your life.
09:50-09:52
If you have eyes to see it, you'll see it.
09:53-09:56
God orchestrates timing in crazy ways, and that's what happened here.
09:57-10:01
So, they come back and they see he was talking to a woman, nobody asked, verse 28.
10:01-10:11
"So the woman left her water jar and went away into town, and said to the people, 'Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did, can this be the Christ?
10:11-10:14
They went out of the town and were coming to him.
10:15-10:16
Stop right there for a second.
10:17-10:17
She left her jar.
10:18-10:20
Isn't that just funny?
10:21-10:22
She went to the well for water.
10:23-10:26
She meets Jesus and she completely forgets why she was there.
10:27-10:28
I totally get that.
10:28-10:31
And she rushes to tell others.
10:32-10:33
Interesting how she put it, right?
10:34-10:42
She says, "Come see a man who told me all I ever did." The things Jesus said to her weren't very complimentary/flattering, right?
10:43-10:49
He said, "You've had five husbands, and the guy you're with now isn't even your husband." And she's like, "He knows me. He knows me!
10:49-10:54
He knows who I am!" And that was the thing that impacted her.
10:55-10:58
But notice how her shame became her testimony.
10:59-11:00
That's how it is with Christ.
11:01-11:02
No matter what you've done.
11:03-11:06
No matter what you've done, you can be forgiven of your sin.
11:06-11:10
Holy, fully cleansed and forgiven of your sin.
11:10-11:12
That your past doesn't have to be shameful.
11:13-11:14
You can say, "Yeah, that's who I was.
11:15-11:16
That's not who I am anymore.
11:17-11:19
By God's grace, He transforms me.
11:19-11:20
That's not who I am anymore.
11:21-11:23
That's who I was." She wasn't ashamed of that.
11:23-11:24
She wasn't ashamed.
11:25-11:28
She says, "He knows what I did." Her shame became her testimony.
11:28-11:36
"Come and see." Then verse 30 says, "So they went to see, and they came," oh, spoiler alert, they come to believe in Him.
11:37-11:39
And what we're going to see next in this passage is huge.
11:40-11:46
Because this is where Jesus talks about the thing that He is most passionate about.
11:47-11:49
Remember we said you know somebody by what they're passionate about?
11:49-11:50
Well, here we go.
11:51-11:55
The thing that Jesus Christ is more passionate about than anything is the mission.
11:56-11:59
Seeing lost people found.
12:00-12:01
Seeing sinners forgiven.
12:03-12:10
Seeing souls that are heading to hell, rescued, and put on a new path, heading to heaven.
12:11-12:12
That fires Jesus up.
12:13-12:15
And it's His passion for the mission of the gospel.
12:16-12:17
Whatever you want to call it.
12:17-12:22
Whether you want to call it evangelism, whether you want to call it missions, whether you want to call it witnessing, whatever you want to call it.
12:22-12:23
All of the above.
12:25-12:29
But you have to see in this passage that Jesus' passion is so obvious.
12:30-12:34
And we said at the very beginning, if you want to know someone, when you have to know what they're passionate about.
12:35-12:37
And this year we're talking about knowing Jesus.
12:38-12:41
If you want to know Jesus, you need to know what Jesus is passionate about, right?
12:42-12:45
And you need to see the mission the way Jesus sees the mission.
12:46-12:48
So jot some things down on your outline, if you would, please.
12:49-12:52
When I see the mission like Jesus, this all comes right from the text here.
12:53-12:59
Number one, when I see the mission like Jesus, I make it the priority.
13:00-13:03
Luke verses 31 down through 34.
13:04-13:06
Okay, so you have the scene, woman runs to the village.
13:06-13:07
Hey, you gotta come and see this guy.
13:08-13:09
Could he be the Christ?
13:09-13:11
And then they're coming to see him.
13:11-13:13
Meanwhile, back at the well, verse 31.
13:13-13:19
Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat." Remember, he just hiked like 20 miles.
13:20-13:21
Like, man, you've gotta be hungry.
13:22-13:41
"Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about." So the disciples said to one another, Has anyone brought Him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work." Stop there for a second.
13:43-13:48
Notice how once again Jesus uses the context of the situation as a teaching opportunity, right?
13:48-13:52
With the woman, it was about water, right?
13:52-14:00
They were at the well and He said, "I can give you living water." with his disciples, we go from water to food.
14:00-14:22
They're like, "Dude, you're gonna eat something." And he said, "I have food." "Where?" "My food is to do God's will, to accomplish His work." So if you were to sit down with Jesus, like we said, take Jesus to lunch, if you were to sit down with Jesus and say, "Jesus, how do you feel about missions?
14:22-14:26
How do you feel about the mission of the church?
14:27-14:29
Do you see right here? Here's exactly what Jesus would say.
14:30-14:34
Jesus would say, "It's my food. It's what I'm hungry for.
14:34-14:41
It satisfies me like nothing else does, more than anything in the world." Do you know what I want to see?
14:41-14:44
I want to see people transformed. That's what I want to see.
14:45-14:47
I want to see people forgiven of their sin.
14:48-14:50
I want to see people knew.
14:52-14:59
Jesus said, "This is way more important to me than physical food." And I've got to tell you, that's a concept that's lost on a lot of us.
15:00-15:06
Because we tend to put everything else over the mission.
15:07-15:11
And God, God gets any leftover time that we have.
15:11-15:12
Maybe He does.
15:13-15:19
But as far as making the mission the priority, It's a sad state of affairs in the American church, to be honest with you.
15:19-15:20
Everything else is a priority.
15:21-15:23
And you're like, "Oh no, no, no, Pastor Jeff, not me.
15:24-15:26
Pastor Jeff, I love missions.
15:26-15:27
Missions is my...
15:27-15:29
Mission... I'm... I'm... You know what?
15:29-15:30
I'm right there with Jesus.
15:30-15:31
Mission... Missions is my food, man.
15:31-15:32
Missions is my...
15:32-15:35
Missions is my impossible Whopper, man.
15:36-15:40
That's how much I love missions." Well, let's be objective here.
15:41-15:42
You say you love missions.
15:43-15:47
When was the last time you invited someone to church or shared the gospel with them?
15:47-15:48
When was that?
15:49-15:56
How much time have you spent in the past week praying for a pastor or a missionary or a church?
15:56-15:56
How much time?
15:58-16:02
How much money do you give to the church or to missions?
16:03-16:05
Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
16:06-16:09
You can tell a lot about your heart by where you spend your money, according to Jesus.
16:10-16:13
You're like, "Well, hang on there a second.
16:14-16:15
Just wait a second there.
16:15-16:18
I don't have a lot of money.
16:18-16:19
You know what?
16:19-16:22
I don't have a lot of time." Yes, you do.
16:22-16:23
Write this down.
16:23-16:28
This is a whole nother sermon, maybe someday future, but this is a truth about life.
16:28-16:32
People have time for what they want to have time for, true or false.
16:33-16:42
And the follow-up sermon to that, just in case there's somebody else that decides they're still going to come to this church, the follow-up sermon to that is, People have money for what they want to have money for.
16:43-16:43
True or false?
16:44-16:44
It's true.
16:45-16:46
It's absolutely true.
16:47-16:51
And now maybe you're like, "Oh man, maybe I don't love missions "as much as I thought I did.
16:51-16:55
"So what should I do about that?" First of all, you need to pray.
16:56-16:57
Look, I can't change your heart.
16:58-17:05
I can't get up here and give a persuasive enough speech that you're going to walk out of here today going, "Oh, oh, thanks Jeff.
17:05-17:08
"Now I care about missions like Jesus." I can't do that.
17:09-17:11
Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
17:11-17:18
And that's why you need to get on your face and you need to cry out and say, God, make me passionate about the things that you're passionate about.
17:18-17:19
Be honest with God.
17:20-17:22
Do you know when you pray, do you know God already knows your heart?
17:22-17:26
So you're not like hiding anything by not mentioning it.
17:26-17:29
Get honest with God and say, God, I'm not passionate about missions.
17:29-17:30
I'm just not.
17:31-17:31
I don't care.
17:32-17:34
I haven't been spending any time.
17:34-17:36
I haven't been spending any money.
17:36-17:40
I haven't been involved in any, God, you know. God, you know.
17:41-17:42
And God, I need you to change me.
17:43-17:44
It has to start there.
17:44-17:45
I can't do that.
17:46-17:49
God's Holy Spirit will do that if you're willing to be honest.
17:49-17:56
So pray. And secondly, after you pray, I would encourage you this, jot this down, start somewhere.
17:57-17:59
We have a missions meeting this Tuesday at 7.
18:00-18:01
Show up. We'd love to have you.
18:02-18:06
Come in to hear all the exciting things that are happening with missions in our church worldwide.
18:07-18:15
Sign up for Harvest Kids or for Arrow, or for a ministry that happens to be involved in a mission at this church.
18:16-18:24
Call a Servo or the Ronald McDonald House or some local outreach and say, "Do you have a volunteer opportunity?" Even once a month.
18:25-18:30
"Can I volunteer just once a month?" Start there. But start somewhere.
18:31-18:34
If you're willing to do that, your heart will change.
18:34-18:37
Do you know why Jesus was so fired up for missions?
18:38-18:39
Because He saw God at work.
18:40-18:42
And I'll tell you what, there's nothing in the world like that.
18:43-18:51
When we have baptism services here, and we hear people give testimony of how Jesus Christ changed their life, there is nothing more exciting than that.
18:52-18:59
I was heading to hell, I was destroying my life, and I met Jesus Christ, and everything is new.
19:00-19:01
That's why we're here, people.
19:02-19:04
There is nothing more exciting than that.
19:05-19:16
And when you first-hand see God at work, you see God's hand move, you're going to be like Jesus and say, "You know what? This, this, this is my food.
19:16-19:21
This is more important to me than eating." You've got to make it the priority.
19:22-19:23
That was Jesus.
19:24-19:31
Like, "Man, you missed lunch." He goes, "Oh, I had lunch." Number two, when I see the mission like Jesus, I see it as a team effort.
19:32-19:33
I see it as a team effort.
19:34-19:35
Look at verse 35.
19:37-19:43
Jesus continues, He said, "Do you not say there are yet four months, and then comes the harvest?
19:44-19:57
Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest." Stop there. Jesus said, "You think the harvest is four months away." Again, He's using the context to teach a spiritual lesson.
19:57-20:07
He says, "You think the harvest is four months away." He goes, "Look, lift your heads, look." He says, "The fields are white." Now, what did they see when Jesus told them to look?
20:07-20:11
I mean, Jesus very clearly wanted them to direct their gaze somewhere, right?
20:12-20:16
He says, "Lift up your eyes and see." Well, what did they see?
20:16-20:18
I'll tell you exactly what they saw.
20:19-20:21
Look at verse 30, back up.
20:21-20:22
The woman goes and tells the villagers.
20:24-20:28
Verse 30 says, "They went out of the town and were coming to him." You know what they saw?
20:28-20:29
You know what the disciples saw?
20:30-20:35
They saw these villagers coming up the hill in their white robes.
20:35-20:38
Jesus said, "Oh, you think the harvest is like four months away?
20:38-20:47
Look, look, the fields are white now as the people are walking up the hill." Jesus said, "The harvest is now, you're about to see it." Verse 36, Jesus continues.
20:47-21:07
He said, "Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together." "For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap for that which you did not labor.
21:07-21:20
Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor." Jesus is saying, "You're about to receive the blessing that comes to those who are part of the harvest, part of the mission." Jesus pointed out to them, "Hey, you weren't the ones who sowed.
21:20-21:22
You weren't the ones who labored.
21:23-21:26
But you're coming in to the process later.
21:26-21:31
You're kind of like a Johnny come lately, but Johnny come lately still gets to share the blessing.
21:32-21:35
See in verse 37, look at verse 37. This is the key to the whole thing right here.
21:37-21:45
Jesus said, "For here the saying holds true, 'One sows and another reaps.'" One sows. Okay, so in this story, who was it that did the sowing?
21:46-21:48
It was the woman, right? It was the woman. She went down.
21:49-21:52
"Hey, you're gonna come see this guy. Could this be the Christ?
21:52-21:56
He told me everything I ever did. You're gonna come and see him." So she was the one who sowed.
21:56-21:59
Jesus said to the disciples, "You're coming to reap.
22:01-22:28
You're going to see people's eternal destinies change in about two minutes, guys." To use another analogy, Jesus was saying to the disciples, "That woman set the ball on the tee for you, and now you're going to watch it get hit into the Allegheny River." Or to use another analogy, Jesus said, She set the table for you, and now you're going to sit down and get to enjoy the meal.
22:29-22:32
Or to use another analogy... do you need more analogies?
22:32-22:34
You got it? Are we good?
22:35-22:36
I got a million of them.
22:37-22:40
Move on? Okay, we'll move on.
22:40-22:40
All right.
22:41-22:43
Verse 37 is the principle you need to understand.
22:44-22:47
Here it is. Evangelism is a team effort.
22:47-22:52
Evangelism is a team effort. He says, "One sows and another reaps." That's what Jesus is saying.
22:53-22:55
She did her part. We're about to do our part.
22:56-22:58
You need to see yourself as a link on the chain.
22:59-23:00
That's so important, guys.
23:00-23:02
I think some people are afraid to witness.
23:03-23:10
"What if they ask me a question I don't know?" "What if they want to be baptized at my house?" And you get all these questions.
23:11-23:14
Look, you're just part of the team. Right?
23:14-23:15
You're part of the team.
23:16-23:22
The quarterback of the football team doesn't go out and say, "I hope I win the game today." What does he say?
23:22-23:24
We win, right?
23:24-23:29
The whole offensive unit, the defense, the special teams, it takes all of us together.
23:30-23:31
Same principle here.
23:32-23:33
Everybody does their part.
23:34-23:36
Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 3.
23:36-23:37
Can we get those verses up?
23:38-23:50
1 Corinthians 3, Paul says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
23:51-23:58
He's like, "All glory to God. I do my part. Apollos, yeah, he did his part." God is the one who does the real work here, right?
23:58-24:04
Then he says, "He who plants and he who waters are one." Meaning one team, right?
24:05-24:08
And each will receive his wages according to his labor.
24:10-24:11
Like, what does that look like today?
24:12-24:13
It looks something like this.
24:14-24:25
Maybe someone here blesses someone that they work with, share the gospel, maybe somebody you go to school with, ministering, reaching out, sharing, you invite that person to church.
24:26-24:29
They come to church and they're greeted and loved here by the hospitality team.
24:30-24:32
They hear the message of the cross by whoever's up here speaking.
24:33-24:39
Then they're invited to small group where they really begin to understand the gospel from the small group leader.
24:39-24:47
And the person believes Jesus Christ, and at the next baptism service, they're baptized right here.
24:47-24:52
And in that little scenario, I would ask you, "Who was responsible for that person coming to Christ?
24:53-24:54
Who did he use?
24:55-24:57
Oh, the Holy Spirit, yes. It was the Holy Spirit.
24:58-25:01
But who did the Holy Spirit use?" The answer is all of the above, right?
25:02-25:09
Every single one of those components is absolutely necessary as the Spirit is at work.
25:10-25:18
So whether you're the inviter, or the hospitality person, or the preacher, or the small group leader, or the baptizer, you were just part of the team.
25:18-25:22
You were just one link to bring them to Christ.
25:22-25:23
You have to see it as a team effort.
25:24-25:25
You know, I think we read Acts 8.
25:26-25:27
Remember Acts 8, Philip and Ethiopian eunuch?
25:27-25:28
Remember that story?
25:29-25:36
Ethiopian eunuch is reading the Scriptures and Philip shows up, "Hey, what you reading?" And then he teaches, then he preaches, then he baptizes, and then he's gone.
25:36-25:39
And people think that that's sort of how evangelism works.
25:39-25:42
That's rare. That rarely happens.
25:43-25:44
It's like one-stop shopping.
25:45-25:48
Dead and sins on the way to heaven in one visit.
25:49-25:49
That's rare.
25:50-25:52
Jesus points out how it typically happens.
25:52-25:52
Team effort.
25:53-25:57
Somebody sows, somebody waters, somebody reaps.
25:57-25:57
All glory to God.
25:58-25:59
It's team effort.
25:59-26:02
And finally today, number three, jot this down.
26:03-26:09
When I see the mission like Jesus, I invest in those who are responding.
26:10-26:11
I invest in those who are responding.
26:12-26:12
Look at verse 39.
26:13-26:19
says many Samaritans from the town believed in Him because of the woman's testimony.
26:20-26:30
What testimony? It says right here, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans came to Him, they asked Him to stay with them, and He stayed there two days.
26:31-26:33
And many more believed because of His word.
26:34-26:39
They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, we've heard for ourselves.
26:40-26:44
And we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.
26:45-26:52
This is astronomical, because this little scene that happened right here, do you realize this never happened in a Jewish town?
26:53-26:56
Right? Keep in mind, we talked about the Samaritans last week.
26:56-27:01
Jesus stayed two days with them, teaching and preaching and sharing the gospel with them.
27:02-27:03
That never happened in a Jewish town.
27:04-27:10
In fact, by way of comparison, You can read about this in Luke 4, not now, later.
27:11-27:15
But in Luke 4, Jesus goes back to his hometown, Nazareth.
27:16-27:19
He preaches one sermon in Nazareth.
27:20-27:20
Do you remember the results?
27:21-27:23
They tried to throw him off a cliff.
27:25-27:25
His Jewish hometown.
27:26-27:30
Here he goes to these hated half-breed Samaritans.
27:31-27:32
It's like mass revival.
27:33-27:35
But here's a key to evangelism right here.
27:36-27:38
It took me a long time to learn.
27:39-27:40
And I'm still learning.
27:41-27:43
I'm still growing by God's grace.
27:43-27:46
This is something that took me a very long time to learn, and it's this.
27:47-27:50
You need to invest your time in people who are responding.
27:50-27:52
Look again at verses 40 and 41.
27:53-27:58
"So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them.
27:58-28:07
And he stayed there two days." Look at verse 41, "And many more believed because of his word." You need to invest your time in the people who are responding.
28:08-28:14
I'm not saying that we don't share the Gospel with anyone and everyone.
28:14-28:15
We absolutely do.
28:15-28:25
I'm not saying that we shouldn't be persistent in praying and reaching out to that lost family member, that lost co-worker, that lost neighbor, that lost whatever.
28:25-28:26
I'm not saying that at all.
28:27-28:28
Here's what I am saying.
28:29-28:40
I'm saying, over the last 20-some years, I've wasted a lot of time trying to drag people along who weren't interested in Jesus or His mission.
28:40-28:41
I've wasted a lot of time.
28:43-28:44
And my wife Erin, she's seen it.
28:45-28:53
Because she's told me at different points along the way, she says, "Jeff, you're wasting too much time trying to get Him on board.
28:54-28:57
You're spending so much time with Him, Jeff, He's not interested.
28:58-29:00
You shouldn't have to drag Him.
29:01-29:02
You shouldn't have to beg Him.
29:03-29:07
You're wasting too much time." And I was like, "No, no, no, Eric. He's going to get it.
29:07-29:13
He's going to get it. He's going to come along. You're going to see." And she was right.
29:14-29:17
Jesus spent two whole days in this village teaching. Why?
29:18-29:20
One simple reason. They were responding.
29:21-29:30
Jesus spent His whole ministry pouring into twelve people and not the thousands in the general population.
29:30-29:32
Why did He spend so much time with those twelve people?
29:33-29:34
Because they were responding.
29:35-29:39
If you were with us when we went through the book of Acts years ago, we saw how that paid off.
29:40-29:56
I just want to encourage those of you in ministry here, I'm speaking to you specifically, whatever aspect of ministry you're in, whether you're an elder, ministry team leader, small group leader, worship leader, whatever aspect of ministry you're in, I just want to encourage you to not be dumb like me.
29:57-30:02
In your ministry, you need to look to see who is responding, and invest in them.
30:03-30:06
Disciple them, equip them, spend more time with them.
30:07-30:09
Invest in people who are responding.
30:09-30:12
So church, we have our mission to make disciples.
30:13-30:15
It always cracks me up when I meet somebody new.
30:16-30:21
They're like, "What's the mission of your church?" People ask me that. "What's the mission of your church?" Like, "What, do you think I made it up?
30:22-30:30
Jesus gave us a mission!" "Duh! I don't say that." But seriously, didn't Jesus make it clear what we're supposed to do?
30:30-30:31
Like, what do you want to do?
30:32-30:33
I don't know. How about what Jesus said to do?
30:34-30:36
Make disciples. He laid it all out for us.
30:36-30:39
And it matters more than anything.
30:40-30:41
To Jesus, it is the priority.
30:43-30:48
And we just need to see ourselves as part of the team, investing in the people who are responding.
30:48-30:49
So, hey, you want to know Jesus?
30:50-30:54
Then you need to know what He is most passionate about.
30:54-30:57
That's the mission of seeing people come to salvation.
30:58-31:02
Father in heaven, we thank You for the mission that You gave us.
31:03-31:09
Father, I pray for a revival in enthusiasm.
31:10-31:14
That You would reinvigorate our passion for missions, Father.
31:14-31:23
I thank You. I see so many people in this church involved in so many different missions, whether it's to Thailand or Haiti or Costa Rica or the Dominican.
31:23-31:25
We've just been everywhere.
31:26-31:29
Father, it would be real easy to sit back and pat ourselves on the back for that.
31:29-31:33
But we're asking that You would just give us even more passion for missions.
31:34-31:36
"Bring more people on board, Father," we ask.
31:37-31:55
"But Father, this mission that You've given us isn't some cold, emotionally disconnected project to work on." I thank You for this passage where we get a little insight into the heart of Your Son, who saw the mission as being more important than eating, as being more important than anything.
31:55-32:00
Father, I pray that You would, by the power of Your Spirit, I pray that You would give that to us.
32:01-32:05
Let us see Your mission as being more important even than eating.
32:06-32:09
Help us to see ourselves as part of a team.
32:11-32:15
Give us wisdom and discernment, like Jesus, to invest in the people who are responding.
32:16-32:23
All glory and credit and praise and honor goes to you, Father.
32:24-32:26
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 4:27-42

What was your big “take-away” from the passage / message?
Tell of a time you saw God’s timing in an amazing and obvious way (John 4:27).
How fired up are you about Jesus’ mission, on a scale of 1-10. Be honest!
What would fire you up more?
Christmas is coming! Who are you inviting to our upcoming Christmas series?

BREAKOUT
Pray for one another, and the rest of HBC, to share Jesus’ passion for the work of God.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Word

Introduction:

4 Reasons Why You Refuse
to Come to Jesus: (John 5:30-47)

3 Ways God the Father Bears Witness about Jesus:

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Life

Introduction:

Three Astonishing Claims of Christ
for Those Who Will Believe: (John 5:18-29)

Satan's Lies:

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Healing

Introduction:

Do You Want to Be Healed?
5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better :
(John 5:1-18)

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Sovereignty

Introduction:

Knowing Jesus Through Desperation (John 4:43-54):

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Mission

Introduction:

When I See the Mission Like Jesus (John 4:27-42):

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

4 Reasons Why You Refuse to Come to Jesus: (John 5:30-47)

3 Ways God the Father Bears Witness about Jesus:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Three Astonishing Claims of Christ for Those Who Will Believe: (John 5:18-29)

Satan's Lies:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Do You Want to Be Healed? 5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better :(John 5:1-18)

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Knowing Jesus Through Desperation (John 4:43-54):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

When I See the Mission Like Jesus (John 4:27-42):

Audio Transcript

4 Reasons Why You Refuse
to Come to Jesus: (John 5:30-47)

Three Astonishing Claims of Christ
for Those Who Will Believe: (John 5:18-29)

Do You Want to Be Healed?
5 Things You Need to Do to Get Better :
(John 5:1-18)