Knowing Jesus - Knowing the True Bread

Introduction:

What Kind of Bread Are You Looking For? (John 6:22-35)

1. I want Here and Now bread. (John 6:25-27)
2. I want to Make my own bread. (John 6:28-29)
3. I want bread from a better Baker . (John 6:30-33)
4. I want "Just Bread" bread. (John 6:34)
5. I Want the Bread of Life . (John 6:35)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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• Audio Transcript

  01:10-02:15

  All right open up your Bibles with me please to John chapter 6 as we continue our series knowing Jesus. Today's message is knowing the true bread. Just to get us all caught up to speed here, because chapter 6 is really one long account. We saw that Jesus fed 5,000 men, plus women and children, with a boy's lunch. And we learned some things about his provision. And when they tried to make him king, he withdrew and sent his disciples off on a boat. And then we I've learned some things about His care as Jesus walked on the stormy sea to rescue the disciples.

  02:16-02:19

  I've said before that there are some things that you just don't buy generic.

  02:20-02:23

  Right? Ketchup, Oreo, Pop-Tarts.

  02:24-02:26

  But there are some things that you just don't buy, period.

  02:27-02:31

  And at the top of the list is gluten-free bread.

  02:32-02:33

  Have you ever tried this stuff?

  02:34-02:42

  I mean, it looks like bread, but then you take a bite and it just crumbles into sawdust.

  02:43-02:48

  And the only difference is it doesn't taste as good as sawdust.

  02:48-02:55

  And don't give me, "Well, you know, I actually prefer gluten-free bread." No you don't.

  02:57-03:01

  Don't give me, "Well, you know, it's great toasted." No it's not.

  03:02-03:16

  "Forgive me, have you ever tried this brand of gluten-free bread?" "Yes, I have, and it's bad." You see, there's a right kind of bread, and there's a wrong kind of bread.

  03:17-03:29

  And in this passage, the crowds that Jesus had fed were coming to Jesus for more bread, but Jesus said they were looking for the wrong kind of bread.

  03:29-03:44

  And you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, what do you mean, 'wrong kind of bread'?" I mean, if you think the feeding of the 5,000 men, if you think that miracle was about biscuits and crackers, you missed the point.

  03:45-03:48

  And this whole crowd missed the point.

  03:49-03:59

  And people go to church every single week, and they still miss the point because they are looking for something from Jesus that He isn't offering.

  04:01-04:01

  I'm going to say that again.

  04:02-04:08

  People are looking for something from Jesus that He isn't offering.

  04:09-04:11

  And that is wrong bread.

  04:11-04:20

  So on your outline today, one question that we're going to ask and that we're going to answer, what kind of bread are you looking for?

  04:20-04:39

  Number one, "I want here and now bread." Look at verse 22. It says, "And the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had only been one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone.

  04:40-04:48

  Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

  04:48-04:59

  So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.

  05:00-05:04

  Okay, so the crowd stayed behind because they thought Jesus was still there.

  05:04-05:05

  They didn't know that He left.

  05:05-05:10

  They didn't know that He had walked on the sea through the storm.

  05:10-05:17

  Well, word got out about this whole miracle of the bread, and the crowd grew.

  05:18-05:21

  And when they couldn't find Him, they remembered where to look.

  05:22-05:24

  Jesus liked to hang out in Capernaum.

  05:25-05:45

  Verse 25, "When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, 'Rabbi, when did You come here?' Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

  05:45-05:53

  "Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

  05:53-05:59

  For on Him God the Father has set His seal." So they asked Jesus when He showed up.

  05:59-06:06

  Really, they meant, "How did you get here?" Jesus, I'm sure you saw, He totally ignored their question.

  06:07-06:11

  And He instead asked them why they were seeking.

  06:11-06:28

  Jesus was saying, "You were seeking Me not because you recognized that I'm from God and I am the Messiah, you were seeking Me because you ate the loaves." It's not because of the sign, it's because you ate the loaves.

  06:28-06:29

  And some people say, "Well, hang on, hang on.

  06:30-06:33

  Isn't that the same thing? Seeing the sign and eating the loaves?

  06:33-06:38

  I mean, that was kind of all the same thing, wasn't it?" No. Jesus is saying, "You missed the point of the sign.

  06:39-06:43

  You're not coming after me because you recognize that I'm the Messiah.

  06:44-06:46

  You just want a free meal.

  06:46-06:51

  And you don't have to be in ministry very long before you encounter this.

  06:52-07:09

  I can't tell you the number of times over the past 20-some years that I've been in ministry that people have come to church, not because they want to know Jesus Christ, not because they want to know what God's Word says, Not because they want to know what the truth is about eternal life.

  07:09-07:12

  People come simply because they want a handout.

  07:13-07:15

  That's what Jesus is pointing out here.

  07:15-07:17

  He's saying that this is all you're looking for.

  07:18-07:20

  You want here and now bread.

  07:20-07:21

  You want a full belly.

  07:22-07:23

  You want what's good for the moment.

  07:23-07:32

  And notice He points out in verse 27, He says, "Don't let that be the way that you live." Don't be living for the here and now.

  07:33-07:36

  Stop spending your life only for what perishes.

  07:37-07:38

  It's here and then it's gone.

  07:39-07:42

  You know, not much has changed since Jesus originally said these words.

  07:43-07:47

  People today just focus on the here and now.

  07:48-07:49

  We live for what's right in front of us.

  07:49-07:51

  What's going to make me happy today?

  07:51-07:52

  What's going to satisfy me today?

  07:52-07:55

  What's going to make me feel a little better today?

  07:56-08:02

  We're willing to swipe a credit card and go into debt because we want it here and now.

  08:02-08:08

  It doesn't matter that I'm going to be paying so much more for this thing in the long run.

  08:08-08:17

  It doesn't matter that this thing is going to wear out, or get broken, or get stolen, and I'm still paying on it.

  08:18-08:19

  It's here and now.

  08:19-08:21

  We today, that's what we're after.

  08:21-08:23

  Here and now bread. What's going to make me happy?

  08:24-08:31

  You know, Jesus, He could have kept the crowds coming by giving bread.

  08:31-08:33

  Do you think Jesus could have kept doing this miracle? I do.

  08:34-08:45

  And he could have kept the crowds coming. In fact, Jesus could have had bigger crowds by just giving out the bread. But we already saw in verse 15 that was never Jesus' intention.

  08:45-08:49

  Remember, they tried to make him king by force and he withdrew.

  08:51-08:56

  It was never Jesus' intention to use this just to draw a crowd.

  08:56-08:59

  And somebody would say, "Well, wait, wait, wait, hang on, hold on a minute.

  09:00-09:02

  I thought Jesus wanted people to come to Him.

  09:03-09:08

  Okay, so if Jesus is using this, and crowds are coming to Him, what's wrong with that?

  09:09-09:14

  Why wouldn't He just keep giving up bread and get bigger crowds, get the whole world to come?

  09:15-09:17

  Why wouldn't Jesus do that?

  09:18-09:18

  I'm going to tell you why.

  09:19-09:25

  It's because Jesus understood a principle that the church needs to understand.

  09:26-09:29

  And that is this. You're going to want to write this down.

  09:29-09:33

  What you win people with is what you win them to.

  09:34-09:38

  Again, what you win people with is what you win them to.

  09:40-09:48

  In other words, if you're trying to draw a crowd, the thing that you're using to bring people in, that's the thing that they want.

  09:48-09:52

  You won them with this thing, that's the thing that they want.

  09:52-09:57

  For example, at Harvest Bible Chapel, we could gather a huge crowd.

  09:58-10:10

  We could overflow our auditorium every single week if we got the word out that if you come to Harvest Bible Chapel, you're going to get a $10 coupon for Chick-fil-A.

  10:11-10:12

  Now, obviously, you're not going to be able to use it on Sunday.

  10:13-10:15

  But imagine if that was the offer that we put on the table.

  10:16-10:20

  We're going to give everybody that comes to Harvest a $10 coupon for Chick-fil-A.

  10:20-10:28

  And then our mindset is, "Well, we'll get the crowds with the Chick-fil-A coupons, and then we can offer them Jesus.

  10:29-10:38

  Well, if we did that, don't get excited, we're not going to, but hypothetically, if we did that, guess what people are going to be coming for?

  10:39-10:42

  They're going to be coming for Chick-fil-A coupons.

  10:43-10:47

  But then guess what happens when we run out of coupons?

  10:48-10:50

  There goes the crowd, right?

  10:51-10:53

  What you win people with is what you win them to.

  10:53-10:55

  We could have the biggest youth group in the area.

  10:57-10:59

  If we did this, get the word out.

  10:59-11:08

  Every teenager that comes to our youth group is going to get a free iPhone, the newest iPhone, and you're going to get your cell phone bill paid.

  11:09-11:10

  We could do that.

  11:11-11:15

  I'm not sure our treasurer would like that, but we could do that, offer that to everybody.

  11:16-11:18

  Think of the teenagers that would come.

  11:18-11:23

  And then when we have this massive gathering of teenagers, we're going to offer them Jesus.

  11:24-11:28

  But what do you think happens when we can't pay that bill for them anymore?

  11:29-11:31

  Where do you think those teenagers are going to go?

  11:32-11:34

  What you win people with is what you win them to.

  11:35-11:40

  And Jesus knows that here and now bread doesn't meet real spiritual needs.

  11:41-11:42

  Therefore, it doesn't satisfy.

  11:43-11:45

  Jesus was correcting their view of life.

  11:46-11:49

  He was saying, "Don't just look for the here and now bread.

  11:50-11:51

  What kind of bread are you looking for?

  11:52-11:56

  Secondly, some people would answer that question, what kind of bread am I looking for?

  11:57-11:59

  Some people would answer it by saying this, I wanna make my own bread.

  12:00-12:01

  Look at verse 28.

  12:01-12:09

  It says, "They said to him, 'What must we do to be doing the works of God?'" That was their response.

  12:11-12:12

  What do we need to be doing?

  12:13-12:20

  And some people think this is sort of an ask regarding works, salvation.

  12:21-12:23

  And I don't think that's the case here.

  12:23-12:29

  Because you see, they already had the whole works salvation system in place in their minds, right?

  12:29-12:36

  They had the law, they had the temple, they had all the rabbinical commands about keeping the Sabbath.

  12:37-12:42

  They had this whole works, righteousness, salvation system in place.

  12:42-12:44

  I don't think that's what they're asking.

  12:44-12:59

  To sort of rephrase their question, I think what they're saying is this, the works of God that you do, Jesus, the works of God, in order for us to do that, what do we need to be doing?

  13:00-13:04

  Almost like asking a magician how he does his trick, right?

  13:04-13:08

  Like, "Hey, that thing that you do, I wanna do that thing.

  13:08-13:14

  Can you tell me what I need to do to do the thing that you're doing?" That's what they were asking Jesus.

  13:15-13:20

  They wanted this power, this ability to make bread like Jesus.

  13:21-13:22

  I want to make my own bread.

  13:22-13:24

  That's a terrible bread to go after.

  13:25-13:26

  You need Jesus Christ.

  13:27-13:34

  You need Jesus Christ for forgiveness, for eternal life, for Holy Spirit guidance, for ministry power.

  13:35-13:37

  You need Jesus Christ for everything.

  13:37-13:43

  So He's not going to give you something that makes you unable to see your dependence on Him.

  13:44-13:45

  He's not going to do it.

  13:46-13:47

  People want the power.

  13:48-14:03

  People want the ability to - I'm going to claim this thing that I want, and I'm going to speak over this, and people think that they in and of themselves have this power, but we don't have the power.

  14:03-14:04

  Jesus Christ has the power.

  14:05-14:07

  The Holy Spirit is the power.

  14:08-14:13

  And Jesus isn't going to give you something that makes you unable to see your dependence on Him.

  14:14-14:16

  That's why He responded the way He did.

  14:16-14:17

  Look at how Jesus responded.

  14:18-14:29

  Verse 29, "Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.'" Jesus was saying, "Do you want to experience the power of God?

  14:29-14:34

  Do you want to see God's work happen in your life?" Here's how that happens.

  14:34-14:38

  "You believe in the One whom He sent." Do you want to know the power of God?

  14:38-14:45

  Do you want to experience what it's like When God is at work, directly in your life, you can have that.

  14:46-14:48

  But it's only through believing in Jesus Christ.

  14:49-14:50

  Total dependence on Him.

  14:51-14:52

  I want to make my own bread.

  14:53-14:55

  That's a wrong kind of bread to be looking for.

  14:56-14:59

  Thirdly, what kind of bread are you looking for?

  14:59-15:05

  The next response is, "I want bread from a better baker." Look at verse 30.

  15:06-15:12

  So they said to him, 'Then what sign do you do that we may see and believe you?

  15:13-15:16

  What work do you perform?' Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness.

  15:17-15:23

  As it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" I mean, can you believe this?

  15:24-15:33

  They said to Jesus, "Okay, so give us a sign so that we can believe in you." Like, what are you talking about?

  15:34-15:48

  the 5,000 men plus the women and children estimated 20 to 25,000 people, that whole picnic, that supernatural picnic that they just had, that wasn't enough of a sign, and apparently it wasn't.

  15:49-15:52

  Like, what are you going to do to prove yourself to us?

  15:52-15:57

  They incredibly minimized Jesus' miracle.

  15:58-16:14

  saying, "Yeah, that picnic we had, that was cool, I guess. But you know, Jesus, you really only gave us one meal. I mean, Moses, he gave us bread for like 40 years.

  16:15-16:29

  I mean, can you top that? I mean, come on, Jesus, if you keep giving us bread the way Moses gave us bread, then we'll believe in you." They mentioned the manna, and just Just a quick reminder, what is manna? What is it? Yeah.

  16:30-16:45

  Literally, the word manna literally means "what is it?" When Moses was leading Israel out of slavery in Egypt to Canaan, to the Promised Land, God fed Israel with manna.

  16:46-16:51

  It was this stuff that appeared on the ground every morning, except for the Sabbath.

  16:52-16:57

  It shows up in Exodus chapter 16, it stops in Joshua chapter 5.

  16:58-17:06

  So this stuff shows up in the ground every day with the Sabbath, and Israel would gather and they would use it to make food.

  17:06-17:10

  It was the perfect food, it was called manna, and that's what they're referring to.

  17:11-17:18

  They're like, "Hey, Moses gave us this stuff for 40 years, you just gave us one meal." Look at Jesus' response.

  17:19-17:31

  Verse 32, "Jesus then said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

  17:32-17:40

  For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.'" Jesus had to correct them again.

  17:42-17:43

  The manna wasn't from Moses.

  17:44-17:45

  It was from God.

  17:45-17:51

  and that stuff on the ground, that manna, that wasn't the true bread. It was a symbol.

  17:52-18:46

  The real bread, the true bread is me. So the manna, just like Jesus feeding the 5,000 men and the women and children, the point of the manna wasn't the bread itself. You see, the whole point of God giving them the manna had a much deeper meaning. The deeper meaning with the manna is that God's people are to learn to trust God to provide every single day. And with the feeding of the 5,000 men, they also missed the point. That Jesus is the true bread that has come to provide life. Not just strength for the moment, but eternal life. But you see for these crowds, the feeding of the 5,000 wasn't enough. Because unbelief never has enough proof.

  18:47-18:57

  Even with everything they saw, even though they ate the food and had full bellies, and saw thousands of other people do the same, it wasn't enough.

  18:57-19:00

  They come back to Jesus, "Come on, Jesus, you need to prove yourself.

  19:00-19:04

  You need to give me more. Give me more." It's just never enough.

  19:05-19:12

  And if you're listening to this message, and you haven't believed in Jesus Christ, I need to tell you this.

  19:12-19:18

  If Jesus always has to prove Himself to you, you are never going to believe Him.

  19:18-19:37

  If you are always demanding more proof that the Bible is true, and that Jesus is God, and that heaven is real, "I need more proof, I need more proof, I need more evidence, show me more!" If that's your attitude, you are never going to be satisfied, and you're never going to believe.

  19:38-19:44

  You see, these people that were speaking to Jesus, They wanted bread from a better baker.

  19:45-19:48

  Meaning, Jesus, you've got to prove yourself, you've got to prove yourself.

  19:49-19:51

  You will never be satisfied with that attitude.

  19:52-19:55

  Number four, what kind of bread are you looking for?

  19:55-19:58

  Number four, I want just bread.

  19:59-19:59

  Bread.

  20:00-20:01

  Look at verse 34.

  20:02-20:21

  They said to him, incredibly, after everything Jesus just said, Verse 34, "They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread always.'" So if you're not going to give us the secret to making this bread the way that you did, do you see their next demand?

  20:21-20:24

  They're like, "Then just keep giving us the bread.

  20:24-20:24

  How about that?

  20:25-20:35

  How about you just keep giving us the bread?" Jesus had just pointed out that there is a universal hunger for bread beyond physical bread.

  20:36-20:44

  There's this universal hunger that we all have, that deep down every single one of us know that there is more to life than just a physical.

  20:45-20:46

  Every single one of us knows that.

  20:47-20:55

  Even the most hardened atheist that you know knows that deep down there is more to life than what we see.

  20:56-20:58

  Jesus was just addressing that.

  20:58-21:00

  But you see, they caught that.

  21:00-21:01

  Did you see that?

  21:01-21:06

  They caught that he was talking about something beyond regular bread, something greater.

  21:07-21:10

  And their response is, well, then just give us that bread.

  21:11-21:14

  We know this, we know there's more to life.

  21:14-21:18

  And we want more than what we see.

  21:19-21:20

  The belly never stays full.

  21:21-21:23

  We're always hungering for more.

  21:23-21:31

  And like this crowd, catch this, so often we want what Christ can provide, but we don't want Christ.

  21:32-21:37

  We want the blessings of joy and provision and heaven.

  21:37-21:43

  We want those things, but we're not about finding satisfaction in the person of Jesus Christ.

  21:44-21:46

  That's another universal truth.

  21:46-21:50

  Everybody wants heaven, the bread that they think Jesus is giving.

  21:51-21:56

  But they don't want the true bread, which is Jesus Christ Himself.

  21:56-21:56

  Do you see the difference?

  21:58-22:02

  Just give us the benefit, but not you, Jesus.

  22:03-22:04

  That's where this crowd landed.

  22:04-22:05

  Just keep giving us the bread.

  22:07-22:08

  Yeah, we want the benefit.

  22:09-22:11

  We want Jesus to give us stuff.

  22:11-22:11

  We don't want Jesus.

  22:12-22:12

  Why?

  22:13-22:16

  Because Jesus also taught things like dying to yourself.

  22:17-22:18

  We don't want that.

  22:19-22:21

  That's part of coming to Christ, but we don't want that.

  22:22-22:24

  Then, you know, the Bible talks about suffering for Christ.

  22:24-22:25

  We don't want that.

  22:26-22:30

  The Bible talks about repenting from sin. We don't want that.

  22:31-22:33

  I want the gift, not the gift giver.

  22:34-22:39

  Look, I'm just here for personal benefit. I'm not really here for radical transformation.

  22:41-22:48

  So Jesus, if you can just set the bread down, I'll pick it up and we'll part ways, and I'll come back when I need more.

  22:48-22:50

  That's how some people view Jesus Christ.

  22:51-22:53

  And when we do, we're just like these people.

  22:53-23:13

  "Look, just give me the bread bread. Not you, not the bread of life. Just give me what's going to benefit me." So all of these that we've seen in this passage, all of these requests and demands, these are all wrong breads to go after.

  23:14-23:19

  I can't leave you hanging because Jesus didn't leave the crowd hanging.

  23:19-23:22

  Number five, write this down, I want the bread of life.

  23:23-23:25

  This is the right bread to go after.

  23:25-23:27

  Look at verse 35, last verse for today.

  23:28-23:31

  Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.

  23:32-23:42

  "Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, "and whoever believes in me shall never thirst." So what is the bread that Jesus gives?

  23:44-23:44

  It's himself.

  23:45-23:47

  He is the bread from God that we are to seek.

  23:48-23:57

  And Jesus explains this using two concepts that every single person everywhere at any time understands.

  23:57-24:00

  Those two concepts, hunger and thirst.

  24:00-24:02

  We get how this works, right?

  24:03-24:04

  I don't really need to explain it.

  24:05-24:07

  If you're hungry, you eat.

  24:08-24:10

  And if you keep eating, you're never hungry.

  24:11-24:13

  Thirsty, it works the same way.

  24:14-24:15

  You drink.

  24:16-24:18

  And if you keep drinking, you're never thirsty.

  24:19-24:23

  We're going to see some more of this teaching as we go further in John 6.

  24:23-24:29

  But just a preview, coming to Jesus Christ is partaking of Him.

  24:30-24:32

  It's consuming Him.

  24:33-24:35

  It's a picture of believing in Him.

  24:35-24:40

  It's a picture of fully receiving Jesus Christ, you see.

  24:40-24:42

  And we keep on coming.

  24:42-24:57

  we keep on believing daily, always receiving and living on the bread of life who indwells us, finding that He is the one that satisfies the hunger in our soul.

  24:58-25:02

  As I preach this message, we live in a day of panic.

  25:03-25:06

  Things are flying off the shelves at the stores.

  25:07-25:13

  And actually last week a friend of mine had sent me a picture that his wife took at Giant Eagle.

  25:14-25:18

  It was a picture of the bread shelf and it was completely empty.

  25:18-25:32

  I imagine many of those people, when they ran in there and saw that bread on the shelf, they grabbed it feeling like, "This is going to take care of me. This is what I need!" But I'm going to tell you something about those people.

  25:33-25:34

  They're going to be hungry again.

  25:35-25:47

  But for us, church, in our times of anxiety and worry, the bread of Giant Eagle was not going to comfort our souls.

  25:47-25:53

  Instead, we turn to the true bread, the bread of life, Jesus Christ.

  25:55-25:56

  Will you bow your heads and pray with me, please?

  25:57-26:10

  Our Father in Heaven, it is absolutely baffling to me Jesus can teach such profound truths using such a simple object lesson.

  26:11-26:15

  Bread is something that everyone has some familiarity with.

  26:16-26:19

  Father, so many of us are chasing after the wrong kind of bread.

  26:19-26:28

  We find ourselves in this crowd, face to face with the true bread, but looking for something lesser, something temporary, something that won't satisfy.

  26:28-26:44

  I pray God, especially for this church, as we are living in a day of uncertainty and a lot of anxiety, pray God that we are daily, constantly partaking of the true bread, the bread of life, Jesus Christ.

  26:46-27:01

  We thank you, Father, for the eternal provision that you've made for our souls, It's not a bread that we're going to eat and be hungry again tomorrow, or next week, or in a million years.

  27:02-27:06

  Father, You've given us the bread of life that satisfies forever.

  27:07-27:14

  So we pray, in the glorious name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the true bread.

  27:15-27:19

  We want to thank you for taking the time to walk through God's Word with us today.

  27:20-27:21

  Be seeking the true bread.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 6:22-35

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. Why do you think the “feeding of the 5 thousand” wasn’t enough of a miracle for this crowd to believe in Jesus (John 6:30)? What does this say about people who are always looking for “more proof” that the Bible is true?
   

3. “What you win people WITH is what you win them TO.” Explain this in your own words. How is this principle reflected in Jesus’ words in John 6:27?

Breakout
Pursue the True Bread! And pray that we as a church would come to Jesus for the True Bread, not looking for the “wrong breads”. This seems very strange if you don’t listen to the sermon.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Care

Introduction:

Matthew 14:33 - And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

Jesus Cares: (John 6:16-21)

1. And you'll find out in the Storm has a plan.
2. And He will do whatever it takes to Save you.

   Romans 5:8 - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

3. And that's why we Love Him.

   What Motivates Someone (You) to Love Jesus Christ?

   1. Benefits
   2. Judgment
   3. Church
   4. Truth
   5. He loves you.

   Romans 2:4 - ...God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance...

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

• Audio Transcript

  01:54-01:57

  Open up your Bibles to John 6.

  01:58-02:16

  And in these uncertain times, I would like to remind you right now our theme verse at Harvest Bible Chapel is James 4.8, which says, "Draw near to God and wash your hands." And I can't think of two better pieces of advice right now than James 4.8.

  02:16-02:17

  John 6.

  02:18-02:19

  Turn in your Bibles there, please.

  02:20-02:22

  And if you don't have a Bible, there are some in the seat backs.

  02:23-02:26

  And you can keep that. Consider it a gift.

  02:28-02:36

  John 6, actually it's one message, we're just dividing it up into four parts, but it's the most famous picnic ever.

  02:37-02:44

  And last week we saw Jesus feed 5,000 men plus women and children with a little boy's lunch.

  02:46-02:54

  And as a result, the crowd was like, "Well, let's make Him our King." So Jesus withdrew by Himself.

  02:55-02:57

  Alright? That's where we were last week.

  02:57-03:02

  Let's pick up in verse 16 this week.

  03:03-03:14

  It says, "When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum.

  03:15-03:26

  It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them." So Jesus sent them off, and He stayed behind.

  03:28-03:29

  Why did He stay behind?

  03:29-03:31

  Well, He wanted to pray.

  03:32-03:33

  And why did He send them off?

  03:34-03:35

  Well, I think there's a couple of reasons.

  03:36-03:38

  One, we saw last week, Jesus knew what He was going to do.

  03:40-03:56

  But I think another reason Jesus might have sent His disciples off, I was thinking this week, could you imagine, you have thousands of people that are like, "Let's make Him our King!" And as a disciple, you're watching all these people have been opposing Jesus, right?

  03:56-03:58

  And these people have hated Jesus.

  03:58-04:00

  And we went through the whole thing in chapter five.

  04:01-04:04

  So as a disciple, you might start thinking, "Hey, you know what?

  04:04-04:05

  "These people are behind Him.

  04:06-04:07

  "Maybe they're onto something.

  04:07-04:12

  "Maybe we should start a rally, "you know, and make Israel great again," kind of thing.

  04:12-04:17

  And Jesus obviously wanted none of that, right?

  04:18-04:25

  Jesus withdrew, and that's why, actually if you read Matthew's account of this, it says Jesus made them get in the boat.

  04:25-04:26

  Could you imagine that conversation?

  04:27-04:35

  Jesus is like, "Get in the boat." But Lord, they wanna make, "Get in the boat." Right?

  04:35-04:37

  I imagine he didn't have to ask twice, right?

  04:38-04:41

  So he made them get in the boat, and here we are.

  04:41-05:03

  So they would have been traveling along the northern part of the lake, close to and alongside the shore, And you're like, "Well, Jesus wasn't in the boat with them, so what was the plan here?" Well, it seems like they intended to watch for Jesus to show up on the shore and kind of wave at them, and then they're going to pick Him up along the way.

  05:03-05:25

  But, that was I think their plan, but verse 18 says, "The sea became rough, because a strong wind was blowing." when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat.

  05:26-05:28

  And they were frightened.

  05:30-05:42

  Okay, so due to the geography of the area - and I'm not going to give you a whole geography lesson, but just the way the land was laid out here - this area was always prone to very sudden and very violent storms.

  05:43-05:49

  And this one was so bad that these professional fishermen were unable to get a grip on it.

  05:51-05:54

  And the darkness and the strong winds would have driven them south.

  05:55-06:01

  So they tried, unsuccessfully, through rowing to get control of the situation.

  06:01-06:06

  And here comes Jesus walking on the sea.

  06:08-06:13

  And according to Matthew 14:26, At first, they thought He was a ghost.

  06:15-06:16

  I just want to stop here for a second.

  06:17-06:26

  You know, sometimes we read the Bible, and we see the disciples say and do things, and we're like, "That wouldn't have been me if I was there.

  06:26-06:34

  I would have trusted Jesus, and I would have known, and I would have had faith." Can we just stop and acknowledge that this would have been absolutely terrifying!

  06:36-06:46

  That they're on the sea, they're being swept out, and they can't get control to get, and all of a sudden they look out and there's somebody walking on the sea.

  06:46-06:47

  I would have freaked.

  06:47-06:48

  I would have freaked.

  06:49-06:51

  And I think that's what was happening here.

  06:53-07:06

  But verse 20, "But He said to them, 'It is I. Do not be afraid.' Then they were glad to take Him into the boat.

  07:08-07:13

  And immediately the boat was at the land in which they were going.

  07:15-07:17

  Jesus says, "It is I.

  07:18-07:21

  Do not be afraid." He was there to calm them, not frighten them.

  07:22-07:25

  And with their fear gone, they took Him into the boat.

  07:26-07:29

  And if that wasn't amazing enough, you realize there's another miracle that takes place here.

  07:29-07:30

  Did you see it?

  07:30-07:33

  Suddenly, they were at their destination.

  07:34-07:39

  Parents, how would you like Jesus to perform that miracle on a long car trip with your kids?

  07:39-07:39

  Right?

  07:40-07:42

  Boom! Jesus shows up and you're there.

  07:44-07:46

  Oh, I so wish that miracle happened today.

  07:47-07:49

  But don't miss that miracle.

  07:49-07:51

  Immediately, they arrived at their destination.

  07:53-07:54

  It's an amazing story.

  07:57-07:58

  But what's it mean?

  08:00-08:12

  And I'll be honest with you, when I always read this story or heard this story, I kind of thought of this as like a bonus miracle.

  08:13-08:15

  Just for funsies, right?

  08:18-08:20

  Here's what I mean by that - by bonus miracle.

  08:20-08:27

  Because typically when Jesus did a miracle, it had some great benefit on the recipient, right?

  08:27-08:28

  You know what I'm talking about?

  08:29-08:31

  Like we talked about the lame guy.

  08:31-08:32

  38 years.

  08:33-08:34

  Bam! Now he's walking, right?

  08:35-08:36

  Okay, I can see why he did that.

  08:36-08:37

  Compassion, right?

  08:38-08:39

  Or even the water into wine.

  08:39-08:41

  We talked about that.

  08:42-08:45

  But there were definite beneficiaries of that.

  08:45-08:51

  You think of all the people that were blind and lame and deaf.

  08:51-08:53

  You think of all of these diseases.

  08:54-08:56

  Or you think of people that Jesus raised from the dead, definite benefit there.

  08:57-09:02

  You think of the people that Jesus removed a demon from them, huge benefit there, right?

  09:02-09:10

  So it seems that when Jesus did a miracle, there was this very obvious benefit to someone, right?

  09:12-09:21

  And then you get to this miracle, and Jesus walks on the water, and then he sort of teleports into where they need to be.

  09:21-09:23

  Instantly, they show up.

  09:24-09:31

  And my response at first is, you know, like, hey, that was really cool, right?

  09:31-09:33

  Like when he healed somebody, that was really nice.

  09:33-09:37

  But this is like, "Hey, that was really cool.

  09:38-09:59

  Jesus walks on water. I mean, that is really cool." But this is so much more than "that was really cool." Because this miracle of Jesus walking on the water, this miracle is one of the most significant events in the New Testament.

  10:04-10:06

  I still don't see the beneficiary.

  10:10-10:13

  Well, I'm going to explain it to you why this was so significant.

  10:15-10:30

  Because according to God's Word, it was this event - Jesus walking on the water, rescuing the disciples - it was this event has changed the disciples.

  10:33-10:35

  Matthew fills us in.

  10:37-10:51

  Matthew 14.33 says, "And those in the boat worshipped Him, saying, 'Truly, You are the Son of God.'" If you realize, that was the first time that happened.

  10:53-11:31

  Apparently, there was something about this event, miracle that caused the disciples to react in this way that was different than how they always reacted to Jesus before. I mean we've mentioned this before Jesus always had a purpose behind His miracles. Jesus never did anything randomly and from this miracle from Jesus walking on the water to rescue His disciples, they learned a life-changing truth that some of us need to learn today. And here's the truth.

  11:35-12:00

  Jesus cares. Jesus cares. It's one thing to say, "I love people," or "I like people." But if you've ever been the recipient, and I know you all have at some point in your life, you've had somebody that you know, that person cares about me.

  12:01-12:03

  That person genuinely cares about me.

  12:05-12:06

  That makes all the difference, doesn't it?

  12:09-12:14

  You know, recently, we had taken Owen to see another doctor.

  12:14-12:15

  A new doctor.

  12:16-12:21

  And it was just an interesting contrast to a previous doctor we went to.

  12:21-12:26

  We'd go - and I'm not going to mention his name - but we'd go and he'd sit and sort of talk about himself and brag about himself.

  12:27-12:33

  I'm like, "Are we paying for this?" He's so arrogant and self-absorbed.

  12:33-12:35

  And we're here to talk about my son.

  12:37-12:49

  This new doctor we saw actually texted me the other day, He said, "I pray for Owen and your family every day." Do you know how that felt to me as a parent?

  12:51-12:52

  Which doctor cared?

  12:52-12:54

  Which doctor really cared?

  12:56-12:59

  And that's what happened with the disciples here in Jesus.

  13:00-13:08

  Like He's not just this amazing human being that might be the promised Messiah.

  13:08-13:14

  They went from that to, "He actually cares about me." Do you guys see that?

  13:14-13:30

  "He actually cares about me." And you're never really going to come to Jesus until you get this truth down that the disciples had to get down, that Jesus demonstrated by walking on the water.

  13:30-13:32

  He loves you and He cares about you.

  13:33-13:35

  On your outline today, I want you to draw some things down.

  13:37-13:38

  Jesus cares.

  13:40-13:40

  Right?

  13:41-13:41

  Three things.

  13:43-13:45

  Don't get too excited, there's some sub points.

  13:48-13:52

  Jesus cares. Number one, write this out and you'll find out in the storm.

  13:53-13:55

  Jesus cares and you'll find out in the storm.

  13:58-14:02

  Yeah, you've got to start here. Following Jesus doesn't mean smooth sailing.

  14:04-14:06

  And I think about that every time we baptize people.

  14:07-14:15

  And I've heard the story so many times when somebody tells me they want to get baptized, they suddenly have like the worst week or two of their lives.

  14:16-14:17

  Why do you think that is?

  14:18-14:23

  It's the enemy throwing every distraction he can at them.

  14:26-14:35

  But I would encourage Matthew, encourage Livy, Following Jesus Christ does not guarantee smooth sailing.

  14:38-14:42

  Not literally for the disciples, and not metaphorically for us.

  14:43-14:51

  Because like the disciples, we're going to be going along and suddenly, the bottom drops out.

  14:51-14:52

  The storm hits.

  14:52-15:03

  And the way the storms hit our lives are the same ways that the storms The disciples...

  15:03-15:05

  It just happens very suddenly, doesn't it?

  15:06-15:07

  You're just going along.

  15:07-15:08

  Everything's great.

  15:11-15:16

  When suddenly you get that bad news at work that they're laying people off and it's probably going to be you.

  15:18-15:25

  "Well, I wasn't expecting that." Or you get that phone call that you weren't ready for.

  15:27-15:31

  "Ma'am, your test came back and you need to come down, we need to talk.

  15:33-15:41

  Suddenly, we're in this horrible storm that we don't know how to handle.

  15:44-15:51

  Too often, Christians - let's be honest, when the storms come, we react like the world.

  15:52-15:53

  We despair.

  15:54-15:55

  We complain.

  15:55-16:03

  Or, like the world, The disciples here, we try to save ourselves by rowing.

  16:04-16:13

  You know, I'm going through this hard thing, but if I just work harder, if I just put more effort into it, I'm gonna get out of this, and I'm gonna fix this.

  16:15-16:17

  But why do we do that?

  16:19-16:21

  Why do we fear?

  16:24-16:26

  Why do we forget who we are?

  16:26-16:28

  Why do we forget what we know?

  16:28-16:30

  And why do we forget who we know?

  16:31-16:32

  Why do we do that?

  16:33-16:34

  I'll be honest with you.

  16:34-16:36

  Some of you guys know this.

  16:36-16:43

  If you don't, every July, I spend a week just preparing the preaching calendar.

  16:44-16:47

  So this message was pre-prepared last July.

  16:47-17:06

  I had no idea we were going to be facing this culture of intense fear on this particular Sunday to stand up and say, "Let me tell you the difference that Jesus Christ makes when He showed up to the disciples and said, 'Don't be afraid.'" That's an amazing coincidence, isn't it?

  17:08-17:08

  (congregation laughing)

  17:09-17:10

  We got lucky, didn't we?

  17:14-17:14

  Awesome.

  17:16-17:16

  But why do we do that?

  17:16-17:17

  That's the question.

  17:17-17:18

  Why do we fear?

  17:18-17:19

  Why do we forget who we are?

  17:19-17:20

  Why do we forget what we know?

  17:20-17:21

  Why do we forget who we know?

  17:21-17:23

  And I'm gonna tell you exactly why we forget.

  17:23-17:28

  I'm gonna tell you exactly why Christians, We act just like the world when we hit the storm.

  17:28-17:28

  You know why?

  17:29-17:32

  It's because we forget that Jesus is in the boat.

  17:34-17:35

  We forget that.

  17:37-17:40

  And people, this is the new covenant, OK?

  17:40-17:46

  Everything that we believe under the new covenant in Jesus Christ, this is it.

  17:47-17:49

  Jesus is with us.

  17:49-17:56

  His Holy Spirit lives in us, triumphant and in control, alive and strong in His people.

  17:57-17:58

  That's the New Covenant.

  17:59-18:04

  And that's what makes us different than the world.

  18:04-18:07

  It's not because we live under a different set of rules.

  18:08-18:09

  Or have a different set of morals.

  18:10-18:13

  It's because the God of the universe indwells us.

  18:16-18:23

  And we need to get like these disciples had to get, that the thing that makes the difference is the presence of Jesus Christ.

  18:24-18:29

  And that's something according to the New Covenant that we have 24/7.

  18:30-18:31

  He lives in us.

  18:31-18:33

  And His presence is all that matters.

  18:33-18:42

  And that's why you can say, you know what, right now, maybe He's not changing my circumstances, but I'll tell you something, He is changing. He's changing me.

  18:45-18:46

  Do you believe that?

  18:48-19:33

  Because right now, we are staring down panic. The other day the news was on and you know how the news, they're just they're just like leaning on the panic button, right? And coronavirus this and you know somebody died somewhere and they're just panicking and my son Cade said to me, he was very serious, he said, "Dad, is this is this the end of the in the world?" And I said, "I sure hope so." "Come Lord Jesus!" But in the face of this panic that we're watching church, we have an incredible opportunity.

  19:34-19:36

  Because the world as always is watching us.

  19:37-19:38

  And you know what they need?

  19:38-19:40

  They don't need us condemning them.

  19:40-19:41

  Shame on you!

  19:42-19:44

  They don't need us laughing at them.

  19:46-19:47

  I know the paper thing is kind of funny.

  19:49-19:51

  But the world doesn't need us laughing at them.

  19:53-20:05

  And the world certainly doesn't need us joining them to say, "Yeah, I am scared to death, too." What they need to see is the peace and assurance that Jesus Christ provides His people.

  20:06-20:07

  That's what they need.

  20:08-20:08

  They need to see that.

  20:09-20:13

  They need to see that this isn't just some Sunday religion that we subscribe to.

  20:14-20:26

  If they see the peace of Christ guards our hearts, then no matter what happens, we're like, "It's okay." By the way, that peace of Jesus Christ that He provides His people, that's available to you.

  20:29-20:31

  Nobody would prefer to go through a storm.

  20:32-20:38

  Nobody sets out trying to direct their ship towards a storm, but let me tell you something great about a storm.

  20:39-20:45

  It always provides the perfect opportunity for Jesus to show up and show that He cares.

  20:46-20:47

  Think about that.

  20:48-21:06

  If your life was always perfect, if everything always went your way, you always got the biggest slice of pie, you always got the best of everything, there's a whole side of Jesus Christ you would never experience.

  21:07-21:08

  The side of He cares about you.

  21:11-21:13

  He will rescue you in the storm.

  21:14-21:16

  So Jesus cares and you'll find out in the storm.

  21:18-21:21

  Number two, Jesus cares and He will do whatever it takes to save you.

  21:24-21:27

  By the way, this wasn't the first time the disciples got in trouble at sea.

  21:29-21:34

  We're not going to turn there, but I just want you to jot this down because I want you to look this up later because it's an interesting difference.

  21:34-21:36

  Mark 4.35.

  21:36-21:38

  I'm going to paraphrase it for you, okay?

  21:38-21:39

  But you still got to look it up later.

  21:40-21:42

  Mark 4.35, this was a different event.

  21:42-21:43

  This was earlier.

  21:43-21:48

  This time, Jesus was already on the boat, but He was asleep on the cushion.

  21:48-21:49

  You remember this story?

  21:49-21:52

  And this crazy storm comes, and the disciples went and they got Jesus.

  21:53-21:54

  Do you remember what they said?

  21:54-21:58

  They're like - I'm going to paraphrase - "Hey, teacher, don't you care that we're dying?

  21:59-22:01

  Seriously. You don't see what's going on here.

  22:01-22:09

  Don't you care that we're perishing?" And Jesus gets up and He calms the storm almost like the way you tell your dog to shut up.

  22:09-22:23

  "Hey, knock it off!" And all of the dog people said, "Amen." Notice I said the way you tell your dog to shut up, not the way you tell your neighbor's dog to shut up.

  22:25-22:26

  But Jesus calmed the storm.

  22:26-22:35

  You remember, He said, and then He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Where's your faith?" And the Bible says the disciples were filled with fear at this point.

  22:35-22:35

  They were scared to death.

  22:35-22:40

  They're like, "Who is this guy?" Right?

  22:42-22:53

  So, okay, so fast forward this time around, John 6, we have another storm, we're in the boat again, and we have the fear again, but this time what we don't have is Jesus on board.

  22:53-22:59

  And instead, Jesus shows up by walking on the water.

  23:00-23:05

  You're like, "All right, Jeff, you said earlier "that this was the turning point for the disciples.

  23:05-23:12

  You said that they really began to love and worship Jesus because of this, but I'm still not seeing the connection.

  23:13-23:21

  What's the connection between Jesus walks on the water and the disciples worship and love Jesus?

  23:21-23:23

  Why did this change them?

  23:24-23:26

  How in the world does this show that He cares?

  23:29-23:30

  That's a really good question.

  23:32-23:38

  What is the connection between Jesus walking in the water and the disciples connecting those dots?

  23:40-23:41

  Here's what it is.

  23:43-23:51

  Because through this event, Jesus showed them, and Jesus showed us, that He will do whatever it takes to care for you.

  23:53-23:56

  Jesus shows that literally nothing will get in His way.

  23:58-24:01

  You know that song, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough?" You know what I'm talking about?

  24:01-24:02

  You want to sing that?

  24:02-24:03

  You know that song?

  24:04-24:08

  Okay, well, Jesus is like the original motivation behind that concept.

  24:09-24:10

  There's nothing high enough.

  24:11-24:12

  Ain't no mountain high enough.

  24:12-24:14

  There ain't no storm bad enough.

  24:14-24:21

  There ain't no sea rocky enough, wavy enough.

  24:23-24:25

  Nothing will get in His way.

  24:25-24:30

  Jesus showed the disciples, I will walk on the water through a storm to get to You.

  24:31-24:31

  To save You.

  24:33-24:36

  Jesus will do whatever it takes to save you.

  24:36-24:38

  And by the way, that is the message of the cross, isn't it?

  24:40-24:42

  Because what would it take to save your soul?

  24:43-24:47

  You and I are in a far worse situation than being on a boat in a storm.

  24:47-24:48

  We're sinful people.

  24:48-24:51

  And someday we have to stand and face a holy God.

  24:54-24:58

  The only thing that could save me if someone were willing to die in my place.

  25:00-25:02

  If someone were willing to pay the price for my sin.

  25:04-25:19

  Not just anybody, it would have to be somebody that's righteous, it would have to be somebody that's sinless, it would have to be somebody that's perfectly holy, it would have to be somebody like that, that would be willing to say, I will give my life for His.

  25:22-25:32

  Now, for me personally, Jesus did not walk across the sea in a storm to save me.

  25:32-25:33

  That's not my testimony.

  25:35-25:41

  But He did come from heaven and go to the cross for me.

  25:42-25:43

  That's my testament.

  25:46-26:00

  Romans 5:8 says, "But God shows His love for us, and while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." See that's the demonstration of God's love.

  26:02-26:09

  Jesus Christ suffered the most brutal and humiliating death possible so that you and I could be forgiven of our sin.

  26:10-26:14

  to the world that Jesus will do whatever it takes to save you.

  26:17-26:19

  Whatever it takes, He'll do it.

  26:19-26:20

  Jesus cares.

  26:21-26:25

  And finally today, Jesus cares.

  26:28-26:28

  That's why we love Him.

  26:31-26:46

  Okay, so if you're sitting here or you're listening to this online or whatever, and And you're like, "Why should I come to Jesus Christ?" What would truly motivate me to come to Jesus?

  26:47-26:48

  I want to talk about that.

  26:50-26:58

  Because it was this miracle - Jesus showing His care by providing His presence - it was this miracle that motivated the disciples to love and worship Him.

  27:01-27:08

  And in the same way, the Gospel doesn't really affect you You have to make it personal.

  27:10-27:20

  You have to go from "Jesus cares" to "Jesus cares for me." That's what makes the difference.

  27:21-27:29

  Because you could leave here today and somebody says, "Hey, what was the sermon about in church?" You're like, "Oh, he said Jesus cares." That's not life-changing.

  27:30-27:33

  What's life-changing is when you truly embrace that yourself.

  27:34-27:36

  I get it now. He cares about me.

  27:38-27:39

  His death on the cross was for me.

  27:40-27:42

  He rose from the dead for me.

  27:44-27:51

  And listen people, it's not enough to just be impressed with Jesus, or to admire Jesus. That's not enough.

  27:52-28:13

  You have to turn the corner in your mind and in your heart from "I believe Jesus is God" to "I believe Jesus is my God." Jesus has to move in your mind and in your heart from your occasional hobby - my Sunday morning thing - to He is the center of everything.

  28:14-28:21

  In other words, Jesus needs to go from being your religion to having a relationship.

  28:23-28:30

  Because awareness of Jesus is not the same as a personal walk with Jesus.

  28:32-28:35

  That's our whole ministry theme this year, right?

  28:36-28:37

  Knowing about Jesus.

  28:38-28:40

  That's why we have the line through a bowel.

  28:40-28:41

  That's what we want to get to.

  28:41-28:45

  We want to get from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.

  28:46-28:49

  Because according to Jesus, knowing Him is eternal life.

  28:51-28:53

  So it becomes personal.

  28:53-28:54

  It becomes a reality.

  28:54-28:56

  It goes from your head into your heart.

  28:58-29:06

  And you go from "Jesus is loving" to "Jesus loves me." So homestretch here.

  29:07-29:10

  What motivates someone to love Jesus Christ?

  29:12-29:14

  What motivates someone to love Jesus Christ?

  29:16-29:18

  I'm going to give you a little list.

  29:20-29:21

  These are things that might motivate someone.

  29:22-29:26

  Or when you're sharing Christ with people, these are things that you might use.

  29:27-29:30

  Like, "Hey, you should come to Jesus Christ." Why?

  29:30-29:32

  I'm gonna give you a motivation why.

  29:32-29:36

  These are some things that make the list.

  29:37-29:39

  Number one, the benefits.

  29:42-29:43

  Benefits.

  29:43-29:45

  Are there benefits in coming to Jesus Christ?

  29:45-29:45

  Are there benefits?

  29:45-29:46

  Yeah, of course there are.

  29:48-29:52

  Yes, I would say that is a motivator.

  29:53-29:54

  Are there benefits?

  29:54-29:57

  Yeah, He gives us everything we need in this life.

  30:00-30:03

  And ultimately, He literally gives us everything.

  30:03-30:05

  Literally, you will get everything.

  30:06-30:07

  Like, what do you mean?

  30:07-30:09

  The Bible says we are co-heirs with Christ.

  30:09-30:10

  Do you know what that means?

  30:11-30:14

  It means He is sharing with us everything!

  30:15-30:18

  Are there benefits in following Christ?

  30:18-30:21

  Yes, but...

  30:21-30:55

  Here's the thing, if the focus in coming to Christ benefits, you're going to drop out quickly because life gets hard and the storm comes and you wonder why it looks like he isn't being good to you in this moment. And that's why when we share Christ and that's the sales pitch we give people, like hey you need to come to Jesus because he's gonna do a lot of great stuff for you. Well guess what? That doesn't stick because life isn't always great and you start to wonder well where's this personal benefactor Jesus He promised me.

  30:58-31:00

  So if you focus on that, it's incomplete.

  31:00-31:01

  You're going to leave people disappointed.

  31:03-31:04

  So does Jesus give benefits?

  31:04-31:05

  Yes, that's true.

  31:06-31:09

  Yes, that's motivating, but that is not the motivator to come to Jesus Christ.

  31:09-31:10

  The benefits.

  31:10-31:13

  That is not the motivator.

  31:14-31:15

  Here's a motivator.

  31:15-31:15

  Judgment.

  31:18-31:20

  Is that a motivator to come to Christ?

  31:22-31:23

  So let's consider the alternative.

  31:24-31:27

  The Bible says that hell is a real place and real people are really going there.

  31:28-31:34

  And it is eternal, conscious torment apart from the presence of God.

  31:35-31:36

  It's horrifying to think about.

  31:40-31:46

  So, is it a motivator to say, look, if you don't come to Christ, the alternative is hell.

  31:46-31:47

  Is that a motivator?

  31:48-31:49

  Tell me, is that a motivator?

  31:49-31:52

  Yes! It absolutely is.

  31:52-31:57

  But, that's the only thing you focus on.

  31:58-32:04

  That leads to a very narrow perspective, and I would suggest to you that leads to bitterness.

  32:05-32:10

  Because after a while you start to think, "Really? I've got to worship Jesus or He'll send me to the bad place?

  32:10-32:11

  Is that how this works?

  32:11-32:19

  I've got to do things Jesus way or else He's just going to punish me or else He's just going to send me to hell." That's not the gospel.

  32:22-32:25

  And for some people, that's how they share Christ.

  32:25-32:26

  Come to Christ or go to hell.

  32:29-32:31

  Is that true? Yeah, it's true, but it's incomplete.

  32:32-32:34

  And you're going to leave people disappointed.

  32:36-32:42

  So yes, judgment is true and it's motivating, but judgment can't be the motivator to love Jesus Christ.

  32:42-32:44

  Well, okay, I'll love you as long as you don't send me to hell.

  32:45-32:46

  It can't be that.

  32:48-33:09

  some people the motivator is church. That's the motivator for some people. Like, you know, what do you mean by church? I mean, hey, you really should come to church because the people are amazing at church. I mean, you should see our church. Our church is amazing. We have the most amazing hospitality team. We have the most talented worship team, like, anywhere.

  33:11-33:17

  And the people are just fantastic. And we have a hot tub right in the in the middle of our auditorium.

  33:20-33:21

  Is that a motivator?

  33:23-33:23

  To come to Christ?

  33:24-33:26

  Yeah! Yeah, it is!

  33:28-33:30

  It is such a blessing to be part of such a church body.

  33:35-33:36

  But, people let you down.

  33:39-33:45

  And if that's your focus when you share Christ with people, "Hey, you need to come to my church because the people are awesome.

  33:46-33:52

  That person might come to church for a while and run into the one non-great person in this church who obviously is a visitor, not a member.

  33:57-33:59

  It's incomplete. You'll leave people disappointed.

  34:00-34:02

  So yeah, is church a motivator?

  34:02-34:05

  Yes, it's true, it's motivating, but it is not the motivator.

  34:07-34:08

  I know what the motivator is.

  34:09-34:11

  Here's the motivator to get people to love Jesus Christ.

  34:12-34:13

  because Jesus Christ is the truth.

  34:14-34:14

  Right?

  34:15-34:16

  That's gotta be it.

  34:17-34:17

  I mean, think about it.

  34:18-34:19

  Jesus is the truth.

  34:21-34:22

  God's Word is true.

  34:22-34:35

  It has been proven over and over to be true and life-changing, and because this is true, and because Jesus is true, that's the motivator that people are going to have to love Jesus.

  34:39-34:42

  And I would say, yeah, that's a motivator.

  34:44-34:49

  This is true from now until eternity, God's word will stand true forever and ever.

  34:49-34:59

  But, but, just because something is true, doesn't mean people will commit to it, right?

  35:01-35:02

  What are you talking about?

  35:02-35:05

  Yeah, people will commit if they know it's true.

  35:05-35:05

  No, they won't.

  35:06-35:09

  Just because something is true doesn't mean people will commit to it.

  35:10-35:11

  I'll prove that right now.

  35:11-35:11

  You ready?

  35:13-35:14

  What's the best way to be healthy?

  35:16-35:17

  Diet and exercise, right?

  35:18-35:19

  Is that true?

  35:20-35:21

  Is there anybody that would argue that?

  35:21-35:22

  Anybody at all?

  35:22-35:23

  Go ahead, open forum.

  35:23-35:25

  Would anybody argue that diet and exercise are important?

  35:26-35:28

  We all know that.

  35:29-35:30

  Diet and exercise, is that true?

  35:30-35:31

  Yeah.

  35:31-35:32

  How many people are committed to that?

  35:34-35:34

  Right?

  35:36-35:37

  You see my point?

  35:37-35:40

  Just because Jesus is true doesn't mean I'll automatically commit to Him.

  35:43-35:47

  And if that's your focus when you share Christ, it's incomplete, you're going to leave people disappointed.

  35:48-35:53

  Not in the truth, but maybe in themselves.

  35:56-36:00

  It's motivating, yes, that the Bible's true, but it's not the motivator.

  36:02-36:05

  So what is it that motivates somebody to love Jesus Christ?

  36:05-36:07

  I mean, I've given you a list of the things that...

  36:07-36:11

  Yeah, motivators, but none of these are THE motivators.

  36:11-36:12

  What is it?

  36:12-36:15

  What is the thing that will motivate someone to love Jesus Christ?

  36:18-36:19

  Here it is, you ready?

  36:19-36:21

  Number five, here it is, this is it.

  36:22-36:22

  It's because He loves you.

  36:25-36:49

  All of the other things on the list are secondary motivators, but the ultimate motivation to come to Jesus Christ, The thing that's going to make you commit, the thing that's going to stick, the thing that is going to make you love Jesus Christ, is when you realize and fully embrace and personalize this truth that He loves you.

  36:51-36:57

  The Bible says we love because He first loved us, right?

  36:57-37:06

  And that's why Paul tells us in Romans 2.4 that it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance.

  37:08-37:14

  So you know in your head that Jesus cares, but the question is, have you embraced in your heart that He cares for you?

  37:15-37:21

  Some of you know this, in a second you're all going to know it, but there was one sentence that changed my life.

  37:22-37:23

  One sentence changed my entire life.

  37:25-37:27

  I was 20 years old.

  37:29-37:30

  I was living for my sin.

  37:31-37:33

  And someone shared the Gospel with me.

  37:33-37:41

  At this point in my life, I was at a crossroads because now I truly understood some things about God's Word and Jesus and what He'd done.

  37:43-37:45

  But at the same time, I was living for my sin.

  37:45-37:55

  And I was honest enough with this person who was sharing the Gospel with me that I told the person I was just considering sticking with my old, familiar sinful life.

  37:58-38:00

  What do you say to somebody like that?

  38:01-38:04

  I mean, the person could have said to me, "You are such an idiot, Jeff.

  38:04-38:05

  "Seriously, you're an idiot.

  38:06-38:10

  "To know what you know and walk away, you're an idiot." They would have been right.

  38:12-38:13

  That's not what they said.

  38:14-38:19

  Or they could have pleaded, "Please, please, please reconsider." They didn't do that either.

  38:20-38:24

  One sentence changed my life forever.

  38:26-38:52

  It was a question, as I told this person, "Ham, I don't know, I see this, "and I think I'm just gonna go back "with my old familiar life." They said this sentence, "Do you have any idea how much God loves you?" And in that moment, the universe stopped.

  38:54-38:55

  And I was cut to the heart.

  38:57-39:07

  And I thought to myself, how can I know that Jesus Christ suffered and died for me?

  39:10-39:14

  That Jesus Christ fully committed everything to saving me.

  39:17-39:19

  And I would even consider walking away from Him.

  39:20-39:27

  How can I look such a gift in the eye and walk away?

  39:29-39:33

  So today, I just want to pose that same question to you.

  39:35-39:48

  For those of you that are on the fence, for those of you that know about Jesus, but you don't know Jesus, I want to ask you, do you have any idea how much God loves you?

  39:48-39:49

  Do you know?

  39:51-40:01

  Because when you do, like the disciples, like me, you're never going to be the same.

  40:02-40:03

  You bow your heads and pray with me, please.

  40:06-40:09

  Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word.

  40:12-40:28

  And Father, it's a hard thing for us sometimes because we think You are so angry with us, and we are just moments away from being incinerated by Your wrath.

  40:29-40:32

  Well, it is true that You are a God of judgment.

  40:34-40:36

  Your Word tells us that mercy triumphs over judgment.

  40:39-40:42

  God, You prefer to save than the judge.

  40:44-40:51

  You've demonstrated the incredible love You have in a rescue mission through Jesus Christ.

  40:52-41:00

  Father, I pray for those that are sitting here that maybe have heard the message a thousand times but haven't truly heard it.

  41:02-41:05

  That know what the Bible says, but they don't really know it.

  41:05-41:08

  Maybe the person that knows about Jesus, but doesn't know Jesus.

  41:08-41:15

  Pray, Father, today that your Word is fulfilled that says your kindness leads us to repentance.

  41:16-41:30

  That, Father, we would see the kindness of Jesus Christ, the compassion and the love that would walk through a storm on the sea, would walk from heaven to the cross, whatever it takes to save us.

  41:31-41:36

  Father, give us just a glimpse of the loving kindness of Jesus Christ.

  41:36-41:38

  Give us a glimpse of that, Father.

  41:41-41:42

  Because we know what happens when we get there.

  41:44-41:48

  To Your glory, we praise You in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 6:16-21

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. Why did Jesus not start the trip with the disciples (John 6:17)?
   

3. When people share the Gospel, what are some of the “motivators” we use (see point 3 of message)? According to Romans 2:4, what is the #1 motivator? Why do you think that is? How do YOU typically motivate when you share Christ?

Breakout
Pray for one another. Pray for a reasonable response from our nation in regards to the Coronavirus.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Provision

Introduction:

Things Jesus Wants You to Know About His Provision: (John 6:1-15)

1. He Already has a plan. (John 6:5-6)
2. He requires Child-like faith. (John 6:7-9)

   Matthew 18:2-4 - And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

3. You need to Thank God ahead of time. (John 6:10-13)

   John 11:41 - And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me..."

   Mark 11:24 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

   Colossians 4:2 - Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.

4. The provision itself isn't the Endgame . (John 6:14-15)

   Deuteronomy 18:18 - I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

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

• Audio Transcript

  01:10-01:11

  All right, John chapter 6. Are you there?

  01:13-01:22

  All right trivia question, you know The Bible records all kinds of miracles that Jesus did right all kinds of different miracles Jesus did but do you know?

  01:23-01:39

  There are only two miracles of Jesus that show up in all four Gospels Do you know what they are? You know what they are only two miracles are in all four One of them is the big one his resurrection, right? That's in all four Gospels But there's another miracle that shows up in all four.

  01:39-01:41

  You know what it is? If you know what it is, shout it out.

  01:42-01:44

  Feeding the 5,000, that's right.

  01:44-01:46

  And that's exactly what we're going to be looking at today.

  01:47-01:57

  Everyone, I would guess, has heard, at least heard something about this miracle of Jesus feeding the 5,000.

  01:57-02:00

  Why is it so prominent? Why is it in all four Gospels?

  02:01-02:03

  Well, it was the biggest miracle in scope.

  02:04-02:05

  Okay? Just by the sheer numbers.

  02:05-02:14

  And I think it's such an important miracle in the Bible, and it's so well known, is because it's a miracle that can't be denied or debated, right?

  02:15-02:16

  There were just too many witnesses.

  02:16-02:27

  The people walking around like, "Jesus didn't perform miracles." Like, "We got thousands of people that were there and saw this one." All right? So we got a lot of witnesses here.

  02:27-02:30

  Now, the Bible says there were 5,000 men.

  02:31-02:34

  Which means, you know, where you find men, you also find women.

  02:35-02:38

  and where you find men and women, you find children.

  02:39-02:40

  So I wasn't there, obviously.

  02:41-02:50

  But the best guess is there could have been upwards of 20,000 people that were there, 5,000 men plus women and children.

  02:51-02:53

  So conservative estimate, 20,000 people.

  02:54-02:58

  And I like to try to put things into sort of a perspective that I can understand.

  02:59-03:02

  And I thought, OK, 20,000 people, what's that like?

  03:02-03:03

  Corinne, you know what I'm going to say.

  03:03-03:04

  PPG paints arena, right?

  03:05-03:07

  How many people does that place hold?

  03:08-03:10

  19,758.

  03:10-03:10

  Thank you, Google.

  03:11-03:12

  19,758.

  03:12-03:21

  So in my mind, for this miracle, I just kind of imagine Jesus-- walk with me on this-- Jesus standing center ice and like every ticket sold.

  03:22-03:26

  That kind of gives you an idea, if you've been in there, how many people we are talking about here.

  03:27-03:28

  So let's get to it.

  03:28-03:29

  Verse 1, chapter 6.

  03:29-03:29

  You there?

  03:30-03:36

  It says, "After this, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.

  03:36-03:42

  And a large crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

  03:42-03:46

  Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples.

  03:46-03:50

  Now, the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

  03:51-04:01

  The Bible tells us the Passover was at hand, but these crowds were following Jesus, who just wanted some time alone with his disciples.

  04:03-04:09

  Why were these crowds that were supposed to be heading to Jerusalem, why were they following Jesus instead?

  04:09-04:13

  Well, verse 2 tells us, says they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick.

  04:13-04:18

  You know, for these crowds, I think for a lot of them, they just didn't want to miss anything, right?

  04:18-04:28

  He's doing all these miracles, like, "You've got to see this guy." I think that's a lot of them, but you know, I think for a lot of the people in the crowd, I think maybe they wanted a miracle, right?

  04:29-04:40

  You know, I do a lot of reading, commentaries, and pastors, and scholars, and when you get to this crowd, it becomes very easy to criticize them.

  04:41-04:44

  People say, "Oh, they just wanted healing.

  04:44-04:47

  They just wanted something from Jesus," which is why they followed.

  04:48-05:19

  And I've got to be honest with you, I would have been with them, especially considering in the day, there wasn't, you know, hospitals and, you know, MedExpress and, you know, doctors and nurses and clinics on every corner. They didn't have that. And there was a lot of mystery surrounding disease and disorders and, okay, so if you're sick or you have a sick kid, you kind of get the crowds, don't you? If you've ever been desperate for something, You get it.

  05:20-05:28

  And I thought, you know the people that criticize these crowds, these are probably people that have never dealt with an illness and these are probably people that have never dealt with a sick kid.

  05:29-05:30

  I probably would have been with the crowd.

  05:31-05:37

  Let me ask you, did you ever just need God to provide?

  05:38-05:47

  Like what I mean is, you've been in a situation where you're thinking to yourself, I don't see any way through this situation unless God shows up.

  05:47-05:48

  I just don't see a way through it.

  05:49-05:50

  Have you ever been there?

  05:50-05:55

  Now please, I'm not talking about, you know, I have the sniffles.

  05:56-06:00

  Like, yeah, we pray about that, sure, but that's not really a desperate situation.

  06:00-06:09

  I'm not talking about, yeah, money's been really tight this month, so I've had to buy the generic Pop-Tarts instead of the brand name Pop-Tarts.

  06:10-06:12

  That's how hard things have been for me this month.

  06:12-06:17

  I'm not talking about that stuff, Nor would I ever encourage you to buy generic Pop-Tarts.

  06:18-06:20

  There's some things you just don't buy generic.

  06:21-06:23

  Pop-Tarts, ketchup, Oreos.

  06:25-06:26

  That's not what I'm talking about.

  06:28-06:35

  I'm talking about the real, desperate, things look hopeless, need the Lord to provide.

  06:35-06:39

  I'm talking about there's too much month at the end of the money.

  06:40-06:45

  I'm talking about my marriage is on its final breaths.

  06:46-06:51

  I'm talking about I got this health thing that doctors can't seem to get a grip on.

  06:52-06:54

  And I don't know what I'm going to do.

  06:54-07:01

  I'm talking about I've been under so much stress and anxiety over some situations that I'm at the end of my rope here.

  07:02-07:06

  I'm talking about the person that recently lost that job.

  07:07-07:09

  And I've been working there for years, and they just let me go.

  07:09-07:11

  and now what?

  07:11-07:15

  Now what about income and insurance and the bills?

  07:15-07:18

  And what are we going to do now?

  07:20-07:21

  We've all been there, haven't we?

  07:22-07:22

  We've all been there.

  07:24-07:28

  And today we're looking at the most famous picnic ever.

  07:30-07:37

  And we're going to discover that this account teaches us a lot more about God's provision than maybe we realized at first.

  07:38-07:40

  So when I say we, I mean me, because I'll be honest with you.

  07:41-07:45

  Beginning of the week last week, I'm like, oh, feeding at 5,000, I know everything about this story.

  07:45-07:46

  I learned a lot this week.

  07:47-07:49

  And I'm excited to share that with you.

  07:50-07:57

  So the Harvest Bible Chapel this year, we're learning, we're pursuing, we're growing towards knowing Jesus.

  07:58-08:03

  So today, very simply on your outline, things Jesus wants you to know about His provision.

  08:04-08:06

  This is the story of Jesus' provision.

  08:07-08:11

  And there's things in here He wants you to know about His provision.

  08:11-08:14

  And number one, He already has a plan.

  08:15-08:17

  He already has a plan.

  08:17-08:22

  Okay, so you're on the scene of Jesus with the disciples up in the mountain, trying to spend some time with them.

  08:22-08:24

  Here come the crowds.

  08:24-08:25

  Are you with me?

  08:25-08:59

  And then verse five says, "Lifting up his eyes then, "and seeing a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?" He said this to test him for… Look at this phrase, "For he himself knew what he would do." Just want you to look at that last phrase, "He himself knew what he would do." You know, I was thinking about that phrase a lot this past week.

  09:01-09:02

  Jesus had a plan here, right?

  09:02-09:03

  We can all agree there, right?

  09:03-09:05

  Jesus had a plan, right?

  09:05-09:05

  You with me on that?

  09:06-09:06

  All in favor?

  09:08-09:38

  Opposed? Okay, Jesus had a plan. But here's the thing that I was rolling around in my head, and I'm not sure I have an answer for this. How far ahead do you think Jesus knew? Do you think it was as the crowd was coming? Jesus is like, "Oh, I know." Or do you think it was before the crowds even showed up? Jesus is like, "I know the crowds are coming, I know what I'm gonna do." And then I got to thinking, was it an eternity past that he knew in the incarnation at this point what was going and what he was going to do.

  09:39-09:39

  It's fun to think about.

  09:41-09:43

  The Bible doesn't tell us how far ahead he knew.

  09:44-09:45

  But here's one thing we know for sure.

  09:47-09:49

  Jesus wasn't surprised, right?

  09:49-09:51

  He knew what he was going to do.

  09:51-09:52

  He wasn't surprised.

  09:52-09:57

  So when he turns and asks Philip, understand he wasn't fishing for information.

  09:57-10:01

  He wasn't looking for ideas like, oh my gosh, here comes all these people.

  10:01-10:02

  What are we going to do?

  10:02-10:07

  He Himself knew what He would do.

  10:09-10:15

  And I want you to burn that phrase into your head and into your heart right now.

  10:16-10:18

  Because if you don't need it now, you're going to need it tomorrow.

  10:20-10:22

  He Himself knew what He would do.

  10:23-10:28

  We're facing this seemingly impossible situation.

  10:29-10:34

  And Jesus, instead of panicking, is like, "Oh yeah, I already know what I'm going to do here.

  10:35-10:49

  I'm already on top of this." You see, we get to these mountains of need in our lives and we say, "How's God going to provide the money for this need that I have?

  10:50-10:51

  It's a lot of money.

  10:51-10:54

  How's God going to provide it?" Or "I lost my job.

  10:54-10:59

  Now what's going to happen?" Or "My car just died.

  10:59-11:00

  I need that car to get to work.

  11:01-11:02

  What is going to happen now?

  11:04-11:04

  So here comes the crowd.

  11:06-11:08

  And here's Jesus, knowing what he's going to do.

  11:09-11:11

  And he asks Philip.

  11:15-11:16

  This is kind of funny to me.

  11:16-11:19

  Jesus asked Philip, where are we to buy bread so that these people may eat?

  11:20-11:22

  That is really scary when you think about it.

  11:22-11:26

  Jesus asked Philip where they were going to buy bread, right?

  11:26-11:28

  That is really scary.

  11:29-11:29

  How is that scary?

  11:29-11:30

  Well, think about it.

  11:30-11:31

  Imagine going to the doctor.

  11:32-11:33

  You have this very serious health issue.

  11:34-11:37

  And you finally get in this appointment to see this specialist.

  11:38-11:39

  And you go into the doctor.

  11:39-11:43

  You're like, doctor, my health is horrible, and I have this horrible problem.

  11:43-11:48

  And the doctor looks at you and says, so what medicine do you think you should be on?

  11:49-11:50

  That's why I'm here.

  11:51-11:52

  You're supposed to tell me, right?

  11:53-12:01

  Or you're on a trip, and you're getting on the airplane, And you walk into the plane, and the pilot's standing there.

  12:01-12:08

  And the pilot grabs your arm and says, by the way, before we take off, which direction do you think I should go?

  12:08-12:09

  Like, you're the pilot.

  12:09-12:11

  You tell me what direction you think we should go.

  12:11-12:12

  You see the point?

  12:12-12:17

  Here's God, Jesus, turning to Philip, saying, here comes a big crowd.

  12:17-12:18

  Where are we going to get the money for the bread?

  12:19-12:20

  Like, you tell me.

  12:20-12:21

  And we'll both know, right?

  12:23-12:25

  But Jesus knew what he would do.

  12:27-12:35

  And notice your Bible doesn't say, "Jesus knew what would happen." Yes, Jesus knew what would happen, but the Bible doesn't say that.

  12:35-12:38

  The Bible actually says something much more specific.

  12:38-12:51

  It says, "He knew what He would do." And sometimes the Lord allows us to be in these desperate situations so we can see what He will do.

  12:53-12:56

  And I know I could line people up here on the platform today.

  12:56-13:14

  I know I could, and say, "Give testimony of a trial or a season of life that you walked through that was just so difficult and it was so hard and the Lord brought you through it and it didn't make sense at the time, but you were able to look back." And you say, "I could line people up that can tell you this.

  13:15-13:31

  I didn't understand why God allowed me to go through that trial, but I see it now." or, "God let me lose that job so that I eventually ended up in this better place." I see it now.

  13:31-13:33

  I didn't see it then, but I see it now.

  13:33-13:39

  Sometimes what God is doing, it makes sense to us looking backwards through time.

  13:39-13:42

  We're sort of looking in the rear view mirror going, "Oh, it makes sense what He was doing.

  13:42-13:47

  I get it." But you see, from Jesus' perspective, He's not looking in the rear view mirror.

  13:47-13:49

  Jesus is looking forward in time.

  13:50-13:52

  He sees all of this ahead of time.

  13:53-14:06

  In other words, talking about the job loss illustration, Jesus, in essence, is saying, I'm going to allow you to lose that job because I want you over here, because I'm going to do this through you over here, not over here.

  14:07-14:09

  I'm going to allow you to lose that job so you're here.

  14:10-14:16

  And it's going to seem hard, and it's not going to make sense for a while, but you're going to see, I know what I'm doing.

  14:19-14:27

  So whatever huge need you're facing, or whatever's going to come tomorrow, you have to start here.

  14:27-14:28

  Jesus already has a plan.

  14:29-14:30

  He already has a plan.

  14:30-14:31

  He's not surprised.

  14:32-14:32

  Right?

  14:34-14:40

  Number two, things Jesus wants you to know about his provision, he requires childlike faith.

  14:41-14:42

  OK, so we have a test.

  14:43-14:50

  And it was directed specifically for Philip, But there are actually three people mentioned who respond.

  14:50-14:51

  Look at verse seven.

  14:52-15:04

  "Philip answered him, 'Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.'" OK, so the first person that responds here is Philip, right?

  15:04-15:06

  Jesus asked him the question.

  15:06-15:11

  Now, at this point, Philip had been following Jesus probably about two years.

  15:12-15:13

  Like, well, we're not very far into John.

  15:14-15:19

  Well, John leaves out a huge chunk of Jesus' ministry.

  15:19-15:23

  In Galilee, John's basically like, "You can read the other guys for that.

  15:23-15:25

  "I'm not covering that." John's covering some other things.

  15:26-15:32

  But at this point, Philip would have been with Jesus for quite a while, and he would have seen a lot.

  15:34-15:43

  So Jesus directly asked Philip, "Where are we gonna get the money "to buy bread to feed these people?" And you know, that question really doesn't have an answer.

  15:44-16:15

  Jesus was sort of presenting to Philip this impossible situation because where they were geographically on this mountain there were there were no villages nearby there were no stores there was no uber eats is that a thing uber eats am I saying that right where they like you get on the intranets and they bring you food to your is that a thing am I saying that right Justin is that right uber eats largely correct mostly mostly correct all right good "Stay in your lane with the Bible, Pastor Jeff.

  16:15-16:19

  You leave Uber Eats to other people to explain." Well, they didn't have that.

  16:20-16:21

  And they certainly didn't have the money.

  16:22-16:24

  And Philip did the math.

  16:24-16:25

  This math is kind of interesting to me.

  16:26-16:34

  Philip said to Jesus, "Two hundred denarii wouldn't be enough so everybody could have even a little bit." A denarius was a day's pay.

  16:34-16:44

  So Philip is basically saying, "Even if I had eight months' worth of pay right here, We wouldn't be able to buy enough food for everybody to even get a bite.

  16:45-16:47

  And then I got thinking again like the PPG paints thing.

  16:47-16:51

  I was thinking, okay, eight months pay, what is that in our culture?

  16:51-16:52

  So again, thank you Google.

  16:53-17:02

  What is the average pay for somebody in our country and multiply that out, etc., etc., do the math, carry the one.

  17:02-17:04

  And it came out to about $30,000.

  17:06-17:08

  Why did Philip pick that number?

  17:09-17:11

  I don't know, it just seemed to kind of pull it out of the air.

  17:11-17:27

  But he's basically saying, "Jesus, if I had $30,000 right here, and a restaurant or a store, that wouldn't be enough money to feed these people." That's Philip's response.

  17:27-17:28

  Look at the next response.

  17:29-17:30

  Somebody else speaks up.

  17:31-17:44

  Verse 8, "One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, There's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?

  17:45-17:46

  Okay, so Philip responds.

  17:46-17:48

  Now, Andrew responds.

  17:48-17:49

  He's another disciple.

  17:49-17:53

  He would also have seen everything that Jesus did the past couple of years.

  17:55-17:57

  Well, what was Andrew doing?

  17:57-17:59

  Well, jot this down.

  17:59-18:01

  You don't have to turn here now, but this is important.

  18:01-18:02

  Mark 6:38.

  18:03-18:06

  Jesus told the disciples to see what was available.

  18:06-18:07

  That's what Andrew was doing.

  18:08-18:12

  Jesus is like, "Go see what food is available," Mark 6, 38.

  18:13-18:30

  Okay, so Andrew was listening to Jesus, "Okay, let's see what food's available." Now I imagine, I don't know, again, I wasn't there, but I imagine it would have been hard for Andrew not to laugh when Jesus says, "Let's see what food we have available." And basically, Andrew comes back with a kid's lunch.

  18:33-18:33

  All right?

  18:33-18:37

  Again, PPG Paints Arena, 20,000 people, you see it.

  18:38-18:44

  Jesus is like, "Let's see what food we have." Andrew comes back, this kid, I imagine he had like a Moses lunchbox, right?

  18:44-18:52

  And he's like, I imagine Andrew's like, "Hey, Jesus, I found some food.

  18:53-19:04

  Everybody dig in!" Like, I imagine Andrew was laughing, but we don't know, but he said, What is this for so many people?

  19:06-19:08

  But there's a third person who responded.

  19:09-19:10

  Same verse.

  19:10-19:11

  Look at verse 9 again, same verse.

  19:12-19:28

  It says, "There is a boy here." Let's talk about the boy, "who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" Let's talk about some unnamed boy, because the two disciples who should have had all this faith completely missed it.

  19:29-19:36

  But there was one person, as far as I can see, there was one person who was on board with Jesus here, and it was this unnamed kid.

  19:38-19:43

  The boy gave up his lunch, and his lunch was fish and barley loaves.

  19:43-19:50

  Now I gotta confess to you, when I heard this story as a kid, and it said the kid had five loaves of bread, I'm like, what kind of mother did he have?

  19:51-19:52

  He's five loaves of bread?

  19:52-19:58

  Do you know there's like 20 to 24 slices of bread in every like town talk loaf, right?

  19:59-20:03

  So I imagine this kid had like these five loaves of town talk, and he's carrying these two fish.

  20:04-20:08

  I'm like, I don't want to judge anybody's parenting.

  20:10-20:12

  That kid's mother was whack, right?

  20:14-20:15

  Hey, I'm going to see Jesus.

  20:15-20:20

  All right, I think there's five loaves of bread in the cupboard.

  20:20-20:21

  OK, I'll take that.

  20:22-20:28

  Well, then I found out their loaves, what they called a loaf, wasn't like our loaves, right?

  20:30-20:32

  Their loaves were more like biscuits, OK?

  20:32-20:34

  That makes a lot more sense, doesn't it?

  20:34-20:38

  So this kid would have had like five little biscuits.

  20:38-20:40

  Some people even say they were more like crackers.

  20:41-20:46

  And he would have had two fish, maybe a couple of pickled fish.

  20:46-20:49

  I don't know what kind they were, but that makes a lot more sense, doesn't it?

  20:51-20:53

  But I also have to wonder how that talk went.

  20:54-21:00

  When Andrew's walking around, hey, okay, Jesus said to look for food, Jesus said to look for food.

  21:00-21:04

  Oh, I found one person out of 20,000 that has food.

  21:05-21:10

  Okay, hey kid, with the only food on the mountain, what you got in the lunchbox?

  21:10-21:17

  I'm like, well, my mom packed me this lunch and Andrew's like, okay, how about this?

  21:19-21:19

  How about you give it to me?

  21:22-21:24

  No, mum packed this for me.

  21:25-21:27

  That's not what my Bible says.

  21:30-21:31

  My Bible just says he gave it up.

  21:32-21:33

  Is that what your Bible says?

  21:34-21:36

  And I have to wonder, what if you were there?

  21:37-21:38

  What if you were there that day?

  21:38-21:41

  Just let's not get super, super religious here.

  21:42-21:45

  Well, let's just imagine you're sitting there on the mountain.

  21:45-21:46

  You came to see Jesus.

  21:47-21:50

  And one of the disciples goes, oh, you're the only person who brought a lunch.

  21:50-21:51

  OK, give it to me.

  21:52-21:53

  How many of you would do that?

  21:54-21:56

  Get your own stinking lunch.

  21:57-21:59

  Hey, I thought ahead.

  21:59-22:01

  Don't punish me for being smart.

  22:03-22:03

  Not this kid.

  22:04-22:07

  This boy, apparently, from what I can see, he didn't ask why.

  22:07-22:08

  He wasn't reluctant.

  22:08-22:10

  He wasn't doubtful.

  22:11-22:14

  The only thing we knew for sure about this kid is he was willing to give up what he had.

  22:17-22:19

  And with this boy, we see a childlike face.

  22:22-22:25

  And here's the thing, church, boy you can't miss this.

  22:27-22:32

  Jesus doesn't just commend childlike faith.

  22:32-22:39

  Jesus doesn't just praise childlike faith.

  22:42-22:48

  Truly, Jesus requires childlike faith.

  22:50-22:51

  Look at Matthew 18.

  22:52-22:53

  I've got it on the screen here.

  22:54-23:13

  It says, "In calling to Him a child, Jesus put this child in the midst of them," the disciples, "and said, 'Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.'" Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

  23:15-23:24

  Childlike faith, the kind of faith that, "Hey, kid, you're the only one sitting on a mountain that has any food and Jesus wants it." Okay, he can have it.

  23:25-23:26

  "Really?" Yeah, he can have it.

  23:27-23:35

  But you know, so often, church, when we're faced with a great need for provision from God, we reason our way around it.

  23:35-23:36

  "Oh, it looks hopeless.

  23:36-23:37

  We don't have enough.

  23:37-23:45

  We're not going to be able to get enough." In that case, we are guilty of just being like the disciples, right?

  23:46-23:47

  Think about it.

  23:48-23:53

  Philip and Andrew answered Jesus no differently than an atheist would have.

  23:55-23:59

  They were looking for a human answer to a divine problem.

  24:00-24:06

  Like guys, have you not been paying attention to who you've been with for these past couple of years?

  24:06-24:08

  Did you not see the water into wine?

  24:09-24:13

  Have you not... did you not see the healing that's taken place?

  24:13-24:17

  Did you not see what this one is capable of?

  24:18-24:19

  God meets needs.

  24:21-24:22

  God provides.

  24:23-24:32

  And many times, dare I say almost every time, God chooses to provide through other people.

  24:34-24:40

  You think, "Well, what kind of people?" who are willing to hand over to God whatever they have. Like this kid with his lunch.

  24:43-25:19

  What kind of people are these? These are people that have a childlike faith, that they don't reason themselves out of trust in God. And church, I want to encourage you, next time you feel called to give, whether it's to missions, whether it's to that needy neighbor, whether it's to the church, whether it's to get a cow out of your yard, or whatever it is, if You think to yourself, and we've all been there, you think to yourself, "Oh, I would love to give, but I don't have much to give." I want you to think of this kid, because his childlike faith trusted and learned a lesson that you've got to learn.

  25:20-25:25

  A little bit in Jesus' hands becomes a lot.

  25:27-25:29

  Like, "Oh, I would really love to give to that.

  25:29-25:35

  That seems like a good cause, but I only have five dollars." What do you think $5 is going to do in Jesus' hands?

  25:36-25:38

  Oh, we didn't get to that part of the story yet.

  25:39-25:47

  But when you're willing to give it up, when you're willing to hand it over, you're going to see, like this crowd, the Lord's going to do things that will change your life.

  25:49-25:51

  You've got to give it over to Him.

  25:51-25:56

  All that Jesus needs from us is what we got and are willing to give Him.

  25:58-26:04

  Third thing Jesus wants you to know about His provision is you need to thank God ahead of time for it.

  26:05-26:06

  Look at verse 10.

  26:07-26:10

  OK, you have the scene here, kid gives up his lunch.

  26:12-26:22

  Verse 10, Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now, there was much grass in the place, so the men sat down, about 5,000 in number.

  26:23-26:31

  Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated.

  26:32-26:35

  So also the fish as much as they wanted.

  26:36-26:43

  And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.

  26:43-26:52

  So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

  26:52-26:55

  Stop there. You need to thank God ahead of time.

  26:57-26:59

  So Jesus gives thanks for the food.

  26:59-27:08

  Then he takes this little lunch and boy, I tell you what, I've thought about this so many times this week, like trying to envision what this looked like.

  27:08-27:09

  Jesus just kept multiplying.

  27:09-27:10

  What do you think that looked like?

  27:11-27:13

  He just kept multiplying it and multiply.

  27:13-27:15

  OK, have everybody sit down. OK. All right.

  27:15-27:16

  Do you guys get enough? OK.

  27:16-27:18

  And they're passing it out, passing it out.

  27:18-27:21

  And Jesus just keeps pulling out of this Moses lunchbox.

  27:21-27:23

  Right. Just he's pulling it out, pulling it out.

  27:23-27:29

  and food, loaves and fish, and loaves and fish.

  27:29-27:32

  He just kept giving it and giving it and giving it.

  27:32-27:36

  And the Bible says that the people ate as much as they wanted.

  27:37-27:42

  Then came clean up time, and it says that they picked up 12 baskets of leftovers.

  27:43-27:44

  That's a pretty exact number, isn't it?

  27:46-27:46

  What do you think that was for?

  27:47-27:48

  I think it was for the disciples.

  27:49-27:56

  I think Jesus had the disciples take care of others first and then discover that they had already been provided for too.

  27:56-27:57

  And that's a whole other sermon.

  27:58-28:00

  What I want to talk about today is this.

  28:00-28:06

  Jesus gives thanks for the five loaves before the miracle takes place.

  28:07-28:08

  Did you catch that?

  28:08-28:09

  We talked about this last week.

  28:09-28:14

  There is a direct connection between faith and thankfulness.

  28:14-28:16

  We talked about that, Romans 1.

  28:16-28:23

  And Jesus clearly modeled that, thanking God before this miracle happened.

  28:23-28:25

  And this isn't a one-off, by the way.

  28:25-28:27

  We're going to get to this, Lord willing, down the road.

  28:27-28:32

  And John chapter 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

  28:33-28:35

  Do you remember this story? We're going to get there.

  28:35-28:40

  But the Bible says before Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, look at verse 41.

  28:41-28:51

  Yeah, this is what Jesus and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me." He said that first.

  28:51-28:55

  He said that before Lazarus came walking out of the grave.

  28:57-29:02

  And Jesus didn't only demonstrate that on the mountain here at Lazarus' tomb.

  29:02-29:03

  Jesus taught this.

  29:03-29:13

  Mark 11.24, Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours." Believe that you have received it.

  29:14-29:14

  Thank you.

  29:15-29:29

  I'm asking for this and I'm I'm thanking you now as if you already gave it to me That's why Paul says in Colossians 4 to continue steadfastly in prayer being watchful in it with there it is again Thanksgiving do you see a trend you see it?

  29:31-29:47

  It's thanking God beforehand because here's the thing if you say thank you to God After he provides and you should but if you say thank you to God after he provides that's called But if you say thank you to God before He provides, that's called faith.

  29:48-29:48

  That's called faith.

  29:49-29:50

  Like, "God, I'm trusting you.

  29:50-29:54

  I believe that you're going to do it." That's what the Bible clearly prescribes.

  29:55-29:55

  It's faith.

  29:55-29:57

  It's believing God's already at work.

  29:57-30:03

  And I know He's already at work because I just learned a few minutes ago that He already has a plan to take care of whatever it is that you need.

  30:05-30:10

  So this week, you should do this every week, but since it's going to be fresh in our minds, I want you to start a new habit this week.

  30:10-30:17

  you pray? Can you pray just like a child talking to his dad? Just childlike faith?

  30:19-30:46

  Can you put yourself in that scenario and say, "Okay, I'm just gonna pray like as unashamed and uninhibited and trusting as a little kid would talk to his dad." And as you pray, thank God for what he's done, and whatever you're asking for, whatever you're asking for, thank him that he already has a plan, and thank him for what he's going to do. You will see God at work in your life in ways that you never have before. Jesus gives us a great example here. Thank God ahead of time.

  30:47-31:17

  And finally for today, things Jesus wants you to know about his provision. The final thing is, the provision itself isn't the end game. The provision itself isn't the end game. Look at verse 14. It says, "When the people saw the sign that he had done, They said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." I go, "What's that all about?" That's about Deuteronomy 18.

  31:18-31:47

  Back in Deuteronomy 18, God says to Moses, talking of the coming Messiah, the coming Christ, God says to Moses, "I will raise up for them, for Israel, a prophet like you from among their brothers." God's saying, "I'm going to raise up a Jewish prophet "from among your brothers, "and I will put my words in his mouth, "and he shall speak to them all that I command him." Okay, so Israel always had this idea.

  31:47-31:49

  God's gonna give us a prophet like Moses.

  31:49-31:50

  God's gonna give us a prophet like Moses.

  31:50-31:54

  He promised God's gonna raise up this prophet, okay?

  31:54-32:00

  And remember back in the very beginning of the sermon, we saw what season it was.

  32:00-32:02

  It was Passover season.

  32:02-32:04

  So what was every good Jew thinking about?

  32:05-32:06

  Moses, right?

  32:07-32:13

  They're going to celebrate the Passover, they're thinking about Moses, and these people would have made a connection right here.

  32:14-32:17

  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.

  32:18-32:26

  God, during Moses' day, fed people in the wilderness with miracle bread, right, called manna.

  32:27-32:33

  This man on the mountain is feeding us with miracle multiplying bread.

  32:34-32:36

  You're the one that Moses promised.

  32:37-32:40

  Moses was sent to deliver us from Egypt.

  32:41-32:44

  You must have come to deliver us from Rome.

  32:46-32:48

  They made the connection, right?

  32:48-33:14

  Because verse 15 says, "Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again the mountain by himself. They tried to force him to be king, but Jesus knew they were looking for him to be a very different kind of king than he is. So he went away by himself because he wasn't going to be forced to be that kind of king.

  33:16-33:31

  There's a lot more I want to say about that, but that's really a key theme in chapter 6 and we're going to be talking about this in the next couple of weeks. So before we get I just want you to see this church feeding the 5,000 wasn't the end game.

  33:33-33:33

  Right?

  33:34-33:35

  Like, well, why'd he do it?

  33:36-33:37

  Well, first of all, he's compassionate.

  33:37-33:38

  He loves people.

  33:39-33:42

  But the second thing is it gives him the opportunity to teach, right?

  33:43-33:44

  So if he didn't feed them, they got hungry enough.

  33:44-33:48

  They're just going to go home, wander back wherever.

  33:50-33:54

  He's like, but if I feed them, it'll give me the opportunity to minister to them.

  33:54-33:56

  The truth of God's word, right?

  33:56-34:01

  It's sort of like when our church would go and we'd go to the Mars Home for Youth and play soccer with the kids.

  34:01-34:07

  It wasn't because, you know, like Russ and I and Dr. Andrew were sitting around like, "Nobody wants to play soccer with us.

  34:07-34:13

  Let's go find somebody to play soccer." And that was where the only people in the entire Pittsburgh area that were willing to play soccer with us.

  34:13-34:17

  And then they saw how good Dr. Andrew was at soccer and they didn't want to play soccer with us anymore.

  34:18-34:19

  That's not why we did it.

  34:19-34:30

  We did it because we knew we'd have an opportunity to interact with the kids and share the love of Jesus Christ with them. In the same way, Jesus' miracles were never for a show.

  34:31-34:46

  They always pointed specifically to something. Jesus' miracles were to point to spiritual realities that he was going to fulfill someday. You get that? The miracles weren't arbitrary.

  34:47-35:25

  They pointed very specifically to things that Jesus was going to ultimately, globally fulfill someday. In other words, why did Jesus heal people? Because He was pointing to the day that there will be no more sickness. Done. Why did Jesus cast out demons? Ultimately that pointed to the day that there will be no more evil. Done. Why did Jesus raise people from the dead? He was showing that ultimately there's going to be the day that there is no death. So why did Jesus feed the 5,000? Because Jesus was pointing ultimately to the day that there will be no hunger. And I mean that physically, and I mean that spiritually.

  35:27-35:32

  That satisfaction, true satisfaction is found in Jesus Christ.

  35:33-35:55

  So you think Jesus' endgame here was to just provide a meal? No, no, no, no, no. That wasn't the goal anymore. The manna was about providing a meal for Israel. Why did God give every single day. I trusted him yesterday, okay do you trust him today? I'm learning.

  35:56-36:11

  I'm learning. In the same way the purpose of Jesus feeding the 5,000 was for them and for us to see that Jesus can provide even when it looks impossible for provision to be made because the provision itself isn't the end game.

  36:12-37:07

  It's just to bring you one step closer to knowing Jesus. That's why he wants to provide for you. So we're done with this part of worship. And you know, you look at this story and you're like, "Man, I want to emulate somebody in this story." Well, like, it can't be Jesus, right? I can't take a lunch and feed multitudes. I can't imitate that. And I'm not sure that I want to imitate the disciples in this particular account. So I would encourage you, church, be the kid. Be the kid! Because that kid said, "You want to do great things? I'm on board. Here, use whatever I have to do what you want to do because I know you have a plan and I'm going to thank you ahead of time for what you're about to do." Be the kid. Let's pray.

  37:08-37:19

  Father in heaven, I pray for us as a church that as we mature in Christ, we see our faith becoming more childlike. That's a paradox that I can't wrap my brain around.

  37:20-37:33

  Growing in the knowledge of your Word, growing in the relationship with Christ, growing in that walk with Him daily, and the result is a more and more and more childlike faith.

  37:34-37:35

  That's what Jesus requires.

  37:37-38:00

  Father, there are people sitting here and there are people who are going to be listening this online later that have a huge need and it looks impossible and I pray that you would bring this story to their hearts and minds. Father we would thank you ahead of time for whatever it is you're going to do because we know God you have a plan. Father we're willing to just offer up to you anything we have even if it doesn't look like much because a little in your hands is a lot.

  38:01-38:12

  Father we thank you that you are a God who truly satisfies every need that we have. Teach us to come to You for that. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 6:1-15

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. What do you think was the purpose of Jesus giving the “test” (John 6:6)? Why do you think the disciples, despite all they’ve seen from Jesus, “failed” the test?
   

3. Read Matthew 18:2-4. How does this child-like faith show up in John 6:1-15? How can you begin praying with child-like faith if this is not something you have done before?
   

4. Why did Jesus thank His Father ahead of time, i.e., before the miracle? What does this say about how we should approach asking the Lord for things in prayer?

Breakout
What do you need God to provide? Pray together - thank God that He already has a plan, and ask Him to give you the child-like faith to believe Him.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Word

Introduction:

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

1. 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)

2. 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.

3. Because you're Self-centered . (John 5:44)
4. Because you don't believe God's Word . (John 5:45-47)

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

• Audio Transcript

  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

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. 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?
   

3. Read Romans 1:21. What is the connection between thankfulness and faith?
   

4. How can you convince a self-centered person that they are, in fact, self-centered? How can you recognize this trait in yourself?
   

5. 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.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing His Life

Introduction:

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

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

Satan's Lies:

1. Man is basically good
2. The "good Lord" overlooks our faults.
3. If we try to do right, God lets us into heaven.
4. The pain we go through on earth is God's only judgment for sin.
5. I've always been a Christian.
6. Any "religious path" will get you to heaven.
7. 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.

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

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

• Audio Transcript

  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?

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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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.

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  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

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. 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?
   

3. 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.