Jeff Miller

May 3, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing the Living Water

Jeff Miller

May 3, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

Isaiah 12:3 - With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

CONTROVERSY – 2 separate disputes:

"Gen Pop": Believers vs Lazy Researchers (John 7:40-44)
Authorities: Haters vs Seekers (John 7:45-52)

Knowing the Living Water (John 7:37-52):

Living water flows Into thristy people. (John 7:37)
Living water flows Out of quenched people. (John 7:38)
1 Corinthians 12:7 - To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Peter 4:10 - As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another...

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

00:00-00:04
Open up your Bibles with me please to John 7.
00:04-00:07
And we'll be picking up in verse 37.
00:10-00:18
Several years ago, we took a little family trip to Erie, actually up to Presque Isle where they have this long biking trail.
00:20-00:25
And I got on my bike, and we had one of those little carts where you pull your kids behind you, right?
00:25-00:29
So I had our two boys They were much smaller back then.
00:30-00:35
I was pulling them and their little cart on my bike, and Erin was riding on her bike.
00:36-00:39
And we went the whole way around that bike trail.
00:40-01:12
And when we got near the end, Erin said, "I must be really out of shape because this was so hard biking today." Well, when we stopped, I looked at her bike and saw somehow the brakes were on and locked, but not tight enough to completely stop the wheel, but the brakes were on to stop it from moving freely.
01:14-01:21
So Aaron biked the entire Presque Isle trail with the brakes on.
01:22-01:29
And at one point near the end of this biking trip, obviously Aaron was so unbelievably thirsty.
01:30-01:35
It was warm and it was a long trip, even with a functioning bike.
01:36-01:41
And we pulled up and saw there was a little water fountain that was on the beach.
01:42-01:52
Well, Erin saw that and ran to the water fountain, and when she got there, she took a big, long gulp of water.
01:55-02:01
But the water was contaminated, and it tasted like dead fish.
02:03-02:16
So after Erin took that giant drink, she spun around, and there were two girls that were were just sitting there on the beach, and she spewed the dirty fish water all over the beach.
02:16-02:17
Just blech!
02:19-02:21
I got permission to tell that story, by the way.
02:23-02:30
And you know, there are two girls to this very day that I'm sure are still telling that story.
02:32-02:35
Today, we're going to talk about thirst.
02:38-02:40
We're going to talk about how to quench your spiritual thirst.
02:41-02:44
We're going to talk about how to know that you have.
02:45-02:54
As we get back into John 7, just to remind us where we are, Jesus had showed up privately at the Feast of Booths, not how His brothers wanted Him to.
02:55-02:57
And Jesus was teaching Him at the temple.
02:58-03:00
And He was met by so much confusion.
03:00-03:01
Is this the Christ?
03:02-03:03
Is this not the Christ?
03:04-03:05
Is He a deceiver?
03:05-03:06
Who is this guy?
03:07-03:16
And we saw last week that Jesus warned the people that they would not have Him forever, and they couldn't come where He was going.
03:17-03:18
Look at v. 37.
03:20-03:25
It says, "On the last day of the feast..." The great day.
03:26-03:32
We're going to stop right there because I need to explain what's going on because it helps us understand what's happening in this passage.
03:32-03:45
Remember, we said Jesus here is at the feast of booths, the Feast of Tabernacle, to remember the wilderness journey from Egypt to the Promised Land.
03:45-03:48
And this feast, this holiday, lasted for eight days.
03:49-03:56
And each day, the high priest would lead a procession to the pool of Siloam.
03:56-04:12
And the high priest would, at the pool, take this golden pitcher and fill it with water, and then the procession went back to the altar where they would pour the water from the pool onto the altar.
04:13-04:40
And while the high priest did that, the people in their booths on the streets, on the rooftops, the people that were in their booths would shout and wave palm branches and they would sing Psalms 113-118 and they would recite Isaiah 12:3 which says, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." That's what they recited.
04:41-04:50
"With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." The last day of the feast was called the Great Day.
04:52-04:58
And on the Great Day, the people would actually march around the altar seven times.
04:59-05:00
Does that sound familiar?
05:03-05:04
This was to remember Jericho.
05:05-05:10
Jericho was sort of the unofficial ending of the wilderness wandering.
05:10-05:16
So why would they do all of these things in this Feast of Tabernacles?
05:16-05:18
What was the symbolism here?
05:19-05:26
This was to remind Israel that in the wilderness, God provided.
05:27-05:35
Specifically, this was to remind Israel when God provided water from a rock.
05:36-05:45
And with this backdrop, at this moment, Jesus shouted these words.
05:47-05:57
Verse 37 says, "Jesus stood up and cried out, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.
05:59-06:13
Whoever believes in Me, "As the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Verse 39, sort of an editor's note from John.
06:14-06:36
He says, "Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified." See, at this point in Jesus' ministry, The Holy Spirit had not yet come to indwell all of God's people upon belief.
06:36-06:45
After Jesus ascended - we get to Acts 2 - the Holy Spirit comes and indwells everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.
06:46-06:51
So John's little editorial note here, this is for us.
06:51-06:57
What Jesus is saying here is something specifically for those of us that live on this side of Pentecost.
07:00-07:05
As usual with Jesus, His words were deemed controversial.
07:06-07:11
And also as usual, Jesus put people into two camps.
07:12-07:14
Let's talk about controversy.
07:14-07:19
Now, there are actually two separate disputes happening here.
07:20-07:21
We're going to look at this quickly.
07:22-07:24
Letter A, let's talk about Gen-Pop.
07:24-07:27
general population, the crowds.
07:28-07:33
They were really divided into two camps, and we're going to call them believers versus the lazy researchers.
07:34-07:35
Look at verse 40.
07:36-07:59
It says, "When they heard these words, some of the people said, 'This really is the prophet!' Others said, 'This is the Christ!' But some said, 'Is the Christ to come from Galilee?'" Hasn't the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?
08:01-08:04
So there was a division among the people over him.
08:05-08:07
Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
08:08-08:10
Stop here. Again, this is gen pop.
08:10-08:12
We have believers, we have lazy researchers.
08:12-08:13
Some people believe.
08:13-08:18
Some people were like, "Well, this is obviously the prophet that Moses talked about." Deuteronomy 18.15.
08:19-08:22
Others were like, "Yeah, this is obviously the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One.
08:23-08:27
Obviously, this has to be Him." But some people didn't believe because they were willfully ignorant.
08:28-08:28
Did you see that in the text?
08:30-08:33
They're like, "No, no, wait a minute. The Messiah, He's supposed to be the offspring of David.
08:34-08:35
He's supposed to come from Bethlehem.
08:36-08:45
This can't be Him because He's from Galilee." Well, they were wrong. They actually could have checked the temple records to see that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
08:45-08:52
They would have been able to see that Jesus had David on both sides of his family.
08:56-08:56
But they didn't check.
08:57-09:00
And we talked about this last week, so I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this.
09:00-09:02
But here's the bottom line.
09:02-09:08
If you want your sin more than Jesus, you'll find an excuse to suppress the truth.
09:10-09:17
So that was one camp, but let's look at another camp here, or another group, rather, of people divided over Jesus.
09:18-09:21
Another group of people divided over Jesus, we're just going to call them the authorities.
09:24-09:26
We're going to see the two camps that they fall into.
09:27-09:28
Haters versus seekers.
09:30-09:32
And this passage is actually kind of funny.
09:32-09:33
Look at verse 45.
09:33-09:52
"The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, "I said to them, 'Why did you not bring him?' The officers answered, 'No one ever spoke like this man.'" Stop there. The officers - these were like the temple police, so to speak.
09:52-10:00
And they were sent - we saw back in v. 32 - they were sent to arrest Jesus Christ.
10:00-10:02
And they returned empty-handed.
10:05-10:12
Did you ever go into a room and forget why you went into the room in the first place?
10:12-10:13
Has that ever happened to you?
10:15-10:22
If that event was an Olympic competition, I would be gold medalist.
10:22-10:23
I am constantly doing that.
10:24-10:27
Walking into a room and, "Wait, I came in here for something.
10:27-10:28
What is it?
10:28-10:33
Anybody else?" That is so me.
10:34-10:37
And that's exactly what happened to these officers.
10:39-10:51
They were sent to do one thing - arrest Jesus - and they show up and they're like, yeah, we kind of got so wrapped up in what He was saying, we kind of forgot to arrest Him.
10:52-10:53
Look at v. 47.
10:55-10:58
"The Pharisees answered them, 'Have you also been deceived?
10:59-11:09
Have any of the Pharisees believed in Him?' This crowd that does not know the law is accursed.
11:10-11:11
See what the Pharisees do?
11:11-11:14
They sort of play into the officer's pride, right?
11:15-11:29
The Pharisees basically - to sum up what they said - the Pharisees were basically saying to these officers, "You surely aren't that stupid." I mean, you're siding with these uneducated people?
11:29-11:30
Seriously? That's who you're siding with?
11:31-11:52
"They don't know anything." Verse 50, "Nicodemus, who had gone to Him before, and who was one of them, said to them, 'Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?' They replied, 'Are you from Galilee too?
11:53-11:59
Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.'" Remember Nicodemus from chapter 3?
12:01-12:07
He knows that their plans to kill Jesus is just the absolute lowest form of evil.
12:09-12:14
And Nicodemus defends Jesus by appealing to the law.
12:15-12:29
Nicodemus is saying, "Hey, you know what guys, you better be careful because you're about to break your own law in what you're about to do here." I think it was really Nicodemus' way of trying to protect Jesus from them.
12:32-12:37
And the Pharisees' response, they said, "No prophet arises from Galilee." Did you see that?
12:38-12:39
Well, that's just incorrect.
12:40-12:43
Jonah, Nahum, Hosea, they were all from Galilee.
12:43-12:44
But you know what?
12:44-12:50
When you're really emotionally charged up, when you're angry, you don't really need facts, do you?
12:52-13:01
Then and now, whether you're in the gen pop or you're someone in a high place, you're going to see that Jesus Christ always divides.
13:03-13:09
We've talked a lot about the controversy, the hatred, and I didn't want to spend a lot of time on that today.
13:10-13:18
Instead, I want us to take a few moments to look at two sentences that Jesus literally shouted according to the text.
13:19-13:24
sentences that truly describe what it means to come to Jesus Christ.
13:27-13:29
And what it looks like when you have.
13:31-13:43
The amazing thing is Jesus explained the most profound spiritual truth using the simplest thing that man has ever known.
13:44-13:47
The very focus of their parade.
13:51-13:53
So two things today.
13:55-14:00
As you're taking notes, knowing the living water is the heading.
14:01-14:02
There's two points, and here's the first one.
14:04-14:07
Number one, living water flows into thirsty people.
14:09-14:10
Look at verse 37 again.
14:13-14:16
"Jesus stood up and cried out..." Look at what Jesus said.
14:17-14:37
"If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink." The whole process of salvation - you know, sometimes we make things so complicated, and Jesus took the whole process of salvation and boiled it down into three words.
14:38-14:42
Thirst, come, drink. Right?
14:43-14:45
Let's talk about thirst for a second.
14:47-14:50
Do you know thirst is the most powerful drive known to man?
14:52-14:55
More than food, more than sex, more than anything.
14:57-14:59
Thirst is the most powerful drive.
15:02-15:08
Jesus was pointing out here by talking about thirst, you have to be aware of your condition.
15:11-15:16
Did you know that most people are physically thirsty?
15:17-15:18
And they don't even know it.
15:19-15:19
Did you know that?
15:20-15:24
I read this week, 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated.
15:27-15:33
And I did some reading on symptoms of dehydration, and the list is long.
15:33-15:43
Dehydration causes fatigue, foggy memory, cognitive function stress, anxiety, irritability, and the list goes on and on.
15:43-15:49
All of these symptoms that people face simply because they're thirsty.
15:52-15:54
And church, this is a spiritual truth too.
15:56-16:03
People have all kinds of painful spiritual symptoms because they're spiritually dehydrated.
16:05-16:06
That's a long list too.
16:08-16:14
People face worry and anger and envy and hatred and discontent.
16:16-16:21
"What is wrong with me?" You're dehydrated.
16:23-16:23
Spiritually.
16:24-16:25
That's what's wrong with you.
16:27-16:32
And Jesus cries out for anyone.
16:32-16:33
Did you see that?
16:34-16:35
Anyone thirsts.
16:36-16:40
Anyone who has rightly diagnosed their spiritual deficiency.
16:41-16:42
Anyone who thirsts.
16:43-16:46
This is where the Gospel of Jesus Christ has to start.
16:47-16:48
Are you thirsty?
16:49-16:50
Are you spiritually dry?
16:51-16:52
Are you lost?
16:52-16:56
Do you realize your sinful and guilty condition?
16:56-16:57
Are you thirsty?
16:57-17:00
It has to start with recognizing that.
17:02-17:03
Jesus says thirst.
17:03-17:05
He says, "Come. Come.
17:07-17:13
Turn your back on the world and all the things that you tried before." The Bible calls that repentance.
17:15-17:21
We try everything to satisfy our spiritual thirst.
17:22-17:27
It can be money, some new gadget, things, people.
17:27-17:38
We try all of these things that we think are going to satisfy us, and we get them, and we use them, and we find out that we're still spiritually thirsty.
17:40-17:55
But you have to see here, that Jesus doesn't tell you, "Hey, get your act together, and come to Me." Because we can't.
17:57-18:05
He just says, "Come." And you see the only qualification is to thirst.
18:07-18:10
That's who Jesus is calling, and that's what He says to do.
18:11-18:12
Are you thirsty? Well then come.
18:13-18:16
And finally, He says drink. Drink.
18:18-18:21
Water isn't helpful until you drink it.
18:23-18:30
You're like, "Well, I'm learning all kinds of profound spiritual truths today." Think about it. Water isn't helpful unless you drink it.
18:31-18:32
What did Jesus mean "drink"?
18:32-18:35
Well, He means to take Him in. Right?
18:35-18:42
Like we saw in John 6, Jesus said you have to feed on His flesh and drink His blood.
18:43-18:45
He was saying you have to receive Him.
18:45-18:47
You have to consume Him.
18:47-18:51
You have to take Him in to yourself.
18:54-19:21
with the living water. Water isn't helpful until you drink it. That doesn't really need explain does it? Just grab an athlete coming off the field and show him a picture of a waterfall. Hold up a Gatorade bottle full of water and explain hydration to that athlete and explain why water is important.
19:22-19:24
That does the athlete no good.
19:26-19:28
It does the athlete no good to know about water.
19:29-19:31
He needs to drink the water.
19:32-19:56
And in the same way, church, everyone who's listening to this, in the same way, hearing a sermon, going to Bible study, mouthing words to a worship song, sitting in a church, watching a church online, knowing all about Jesus does not satisfy your spiritual thirst.
19:56-20:02
You need to go from knowing about Jesus to knowing Jesus.
20:03-20:04
Have you done that?
20:07-20:09
Because according to Jesus, it's not that complicated.
20:09-20:12
It's hard, but it's not complicated.
20:14-20:20
"Thirst, come, drink." Living water flows into thirsty people.
20:22-20:23
Check this out. Point two.
20:24-20:29
Living water flows out of quenched people.
20:31-20:34
I want you to look very closely at what Jesus said.
20:35-20:36
The result of believing Him.
20:37-20:39
The result of thirst, come, drink.
20:39-20:41
I want you to look very closely at what He says.
20:43-20:54
In verse 38, Jesus said, "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said..." Like Ezekiel 37, different passages in Isaiah.
20:54-20:58
He just sort of summed up some Old Testament concepts with this statement.
20:58-20:58
But look at this statement.
21:00-21:06
"Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." Did you see that?
21:07-21:39
"Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." You know, no matter how many times I've read the Gospel of John, every time I get to this passage, my mind wants to read this passage, and my mind wants to remember this passage as saying this, "Into his heart will flow rivers of living water." I have like this mental block that I think that's what it says.
21:39-21:42
Into his heart flow rivers of water. Into his heart...
21:44-21:45
But did you notice that's not what it says?
21:47-21:57
Jesus said, "Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." The point is this, the water doesn't stay in you.
22:00-22:04
Christians, you are not a bucket.
22:07-22:09
But many Christians sure act like one.
22:10-22:15
Like yes, Jesus is the living water, and I'm His bucket.
22:16-22:19
The Christian life is about me being blessed.
22:19-22:20
Pour into me, Jesus.
22:21-22:24
Bless me. Give me. Make me happy.
22:24-22:26
Now listen, does that happen?
22:27-22:30
Absolutely, for sure it happens.
22:32-22:36
But that is only where it starts.
22:38-22:47
You see, it's like saying the Kentucky Derby is all about opening a gate for a horse.
22:49-22:51
That's only where it starts.
22:53-22:55
So it is with the Christian life.
22:55-22:57
Yes, we drink.
22:57-22:59
Yes, He pours in.
22:59-23:01
And some people think that's the end game.
23:01-23:02
But it's not.
23:02-23:06
Jesus pours into you so He can pour out of you.
23:07-23:15
In Christ, we become a river to others as living water flows from us to them.
23:15-23:21
In other words, Christ flows through you to become a blessing to other people.
23:22-23:27
And this verse certainly isn't an isolated example of this teaching, right?
23:27-23:40
1 Corinthians 12.7, Paul said, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." Why do you have the Holy Spirit? For the benefit of others.
23:42-23:44
1 Peter 4.10, Peter says the same thing.
23:44-23:53
"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another." He pours into you, but the purpose ultimately is to pour through you.
23:55-24:21
So Christian, your concern is not, "Are my needs being met?" In Christ, as the living waters flow, our concern becomes, "How can I meet other people's needs?" "How can I minister to them?" "How can I share Christ with them?" "How can I encourage them?" "How can I bless them?" It becomes an outward, focused life.
24:25-24:59
And when that happens, when that living water, you're drinking of it, and it is flowing like rivers out of you into the lives of other people, when that becomes your default way of living, it's proof that your own thirst When I was preparing for this message, I did a Google search for stories about thirst.
25:02-25:10
And read some articles, and this article I read just really stuck out to me, and I wanted to just share this story with you.
25:12-25:30
But several years ago, a man by the name of Dave Buschow, age 29, paid over $3,000 to go on a wilderness survival exercise in the deserts of Utah.
25:32-25:39
It was like one of those, what do they call them, the Spartan races, the Iron Man, those kinds of things.
25:39-25:57
like that but even more intense. It was about testing mental and physical toughness. On the second day, this crew hiked for 10 hours without water and 100 degree temperatures.
26:00-26:16
At one point, Dave Habushaw had stopped at a place where there was water and he stooped down to get a drink, but the guides who lead them on this survival expedition, the guides discouraged him from doing that.
26:16-26:17
Tough it out.
26:18-26:19
Keep pressing on.
26:22-26:25
Well their destination was this cave that had water.
26:25-26:28
That was sort of their checkpoint finish line.
26:28-26:32
We're going to rest here, we're going to drink here, but that was the finish line.
26:34-26:44
And the crew, including Dave Bustschow, was less than 100 yards away from the cave when Dave collapsed and died.
26:47-26:48
It's a tragic story.
26:50-26:52
What I'm about to tell you makes it even more tragic.
26:54-26:56
His guides had water the whole time.
26:58-27:04
His guides were carrying water with them for emergency.
27:04-27:21
But they didn't give the water to Dave because they "didn't want to ruin the experience for him." The tragedy of this story with Dave Boushchow is he died of thirst with water all around him.
27:23-27:32
And I read this story and I thought, spiritually, this tragedy, it's happening every day.
27:35-27:38
There are people spiritually dying of thirst.
27:38-27:43
All around us, while we carry with us the living water.
27:44-27:50
So I just want to ask you, church, what are you going to do about it?
27:52-27:53
Are you going to be like the guides?
27:56-28:04
I have the water, but I'm keeping the water, and I'm not giving the water, and I'm going to watch people die knowing that I could have prevented it.
28:06-28:19
Or, will you save a life by giving the living water of Jesus Christ that flows through you?
28:21-28:22
Let's pray.
28:24-28:29
Father in Heaven, we thank You so much for Your Word.
28:30-28:38
It clears up any doubt as to who You are, what You require from us.
28:38-28:40
What You've required, Father.
28:40-28:42
Jesus made it very clear.
28:43-28:44
We thirst, we come, and we drink.
28:46-28:51
And when we do that, we let those rivers of water and give a thrust to others.
28:55-29:11
Father, I just pray simply for my brothers and sisters who are watching this, that we would be people who come to Jesus Christ for the satisfaction that only the living water can give.
29:14-29:17
That Father, we would find our fulfillment and identity in Him.
29:19-29:38
Father, I pray that we would be people who are just so constantly blessing others and looking to the needs of others because we are just so flowing with the water.
29:41-29:47
Father, we're sorry for our selfishness.
29:51-29:58
We're sorry for the times that even as Christ-followers, we start to look for satisfaction in other things.
30:01-30:09
By Your grace, Father, by the power of Your Spirit, let us once again recognize our thirst.
30:11-30:12
Let us once again come to Christ.
30:13-30:18
Let us once again drink the water that He gives.
30:19-30:22
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 7:37-52

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
How does someone recognize they are thirsty (John 7:37)? If you are a believer: how did you recognize YOU were thirsty when you came to Christ to drink? How can you recognize when someone else is thirsty, and needs Christ?
What are some things people try to find satisfaction in, when what they really need is Christ? What are some things that you tried?
Read John 7:38. Explain, in your own words, what Jesus is saying. How do you know when you are “quenched”?

Breakout
How “outward focused” have you personally been during the COVID season we are in? Pray for one another to be RIVERS, not BUCKETS, of living water.

Jeff Miller

April 26, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing Him Now

Jeff Miller

April 26, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Introduction:

Lies We Hear from the Lost (and how we should respond) (John 7:25-36):

I know what the Bible says. (John 7:27-28)
What do I say when someone claims to know the Bible, but they obviously do not?

Where do you get your knowledge of Jesus? Would you like to know what the Bible says? ( Y / N )

Colossians 1 | John 1

Everyone ends up in Heaven . (John 7:34)
What do I say when someone claims everyone goes to heaven?

Where do you get your idea everyone goes to heaven? Would you like to know what the Bible says? ( Y / N )

Matthew 25:46 - And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
I have Time . (John 7:33)
Isaiah 55:6 - "Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near..."

What do I say when someone claims they'll come to Jesus later?

Where do you get your idea you have time? Would you like to know what the Bible says? ( Y / N )

Hebrews 3, 4

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

00:00-00:04
We'd like to welcome you to Harvest Pittsburgh North online.
00:05-00:12
We are so glad that you are worshiping with us this morning, and you'll be getting into God's Word with us this morning, so let's turn our hearts towards the Lord together.
00:12-00:17
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the Gospel of John 7.
00:17-00:19
We will be picking up in verse 25.
00:20-00:26
While you're turning there, when I was in college, I worked with a man named George.
00:26-00:40
And George was a very interesting fellow, because George would look me in the eye, and he would tell me about working, not only with me at Walmart, but he also drove truck on the side.
00:41-01:23
And George would say things like, "Yeah, I had to haul a load down to Florida and back last night." And I said, "George, you drove to Florida and back last night?" And he's, "Yeah." I said, "Well, that's a lot of miles on the car in one night." And he said, "Yeah, I worked 210 hours at my other job last week." I said, "You worked 210 hours at your other job last week?" He goes, "Yeah." I said, "How many hours do you work at Walmart?" He said, "40." And I said, "George, you worked 250 hours last week?" And he would look me dead in the eye and he'd say, "Yeah, yeah, I put in 250 hours last week." And I don't know what motivates somebody to lie like that.
01:24-01:32
I don't think George wanted to impress me, but it was so strange because he did this almost every time I saw him.
01:33-01:37
He was talking about these huge inflated number of hours.
01:37-01:42
You know there's only 168 hours in a week, but he would work 250 hours.
01:43-01:50
And I never corrected him, because when he looked me in the eye and told me these stories, he seemed like he really believed it.
01:51-02:00
In church, we face lost people who tell lies, and like George, they really believe the lies that they tell.
02:01-02:04
But their lies have much more serious consequences.
02:05-02:12
Because believing these lies that lost people tell and believe, these lies keep people from truly knowing Jesus.
02:12-02:14
They keep people from coming to Jesus for salvation.
02:15-02:25
As we turn to John 7, recall Jesus showed up privately at the Feast of Booths when we started chapter 7 last time.
02:26-02:34
His brothers wanted Him to go into Jerusalem and make this big show at the Feast, and Jesus didn't do it according to their time or according to their method.
02:35-02:38
Jesus went privately, and He taught at the temple.
02:39-02:43
Let's pick up in verse 25 where we left off last week.
02:43-02:54
because some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, "Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?" And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him.
02:55-03:00
Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
03:00-03:02
But we know where this man comes from.
03:03-03:06
And when the Christ appears, no one will know where He comes from.
03:07-03:08
Stop there.
03:08-03:42
There is so much confusion happening in this passage said first of all, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, isn't this the man that they're trying to kill?" And you might be thinking, "Well, hang on a second. Last week when we were in verse 20, the crowd said, 'You have a demon! Who's trying to kill you?' So how is it that there were people saying, 'Who's trying to kill you?' but then there are people that instantly knew that this is the one that people wanted to kill?" Well, the difference is in verse 20, it says the crowd was saying that these were people that were from all over, right?
03:42-03:46
They were not just from Jerusalem, they were from all over.
03:46-03:48
They came into Jerusalem for the feast.
03:48-03:53
So they didn't know what was happening in Jerusalem as much as the city's residents would.
03:54-03:56
And that's exactly what's being talked about here.
03:56-03:57
Did you see that?
03:57-04:02
Verse 25, "Some of the people of Jerusalem..." Okay, these were the local people.
04:02-04:06
They knew that the leaders wanted Jesus dead.
04:06-04:09
But the people on the outskirts were unaware of that plot.
04:10-04:10
That's the difference.
04:11-04:16
But regardless, we see in verse 26, people were all up in arms, confused.
04:18-04:22
He's teaching, and no one's doing anything about it!
04:22-04:23
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
04:23-04:27
Do they really know that Jesus is the Messiah?
04:28-04:29
Are they covering it up?
04:30-04:31
You know what this looks like to me?
04:32-04:34
This looks like a good old-fashioned conspiracy.
04:35-04:41
Like these leaders know who He is, apparently they're just not telling us.
04:41-05:09
No, no no, in the temple.
05:10-05:17
"You know Me, and you know where I come from, but I have not come of My own accord.
05:18-05:21
He who sent Me is true, and Him you do not know.
05:22-05:30
I know Him, for I come from Him, and He sent Me." So they were seeking to arrest Him, but no one laid a hand on Him.
05:31-05:32
They were like, "Wait, wait, wait, stop.
05:32-05:38
If they wanted to arrest Him, and He's teaching in the temple, Why didn't they just grab him, right?
05:38-05:41
Why didn't they just walk up and grab him?
05:41-05:48
Well, I'm sure at that moment if you would have asked them, "Why don't you just arrest Jesus?" they would have had some excuses.
05:48-06:03
Maybe they would have said something like, "Well, this is the feast and there's so many people here, we don't want to cause a riot, we don't want to cause problems, so that's why we're not grabbing him." But the real reason they didn't, look at the end of verse 30.
06:04-06:10
It says, "But no one laid a hand on Him because His hour had not yet come." That's why. That's why they didn't arrest Him.
06:10-06:12
They were being restrained by God.
06:12-06:16
Whatever excuse there was in their head, God was restraining them.
06:17-06:20
And nothing happens before God says so.
06:21-06:23
And that's why Jesus was preaching so boldly.
06:24-06:28
Because Jesus was so aware of God's sovereignty.
06:28-06:34
Jesus knew nothing was going to happen to Him before the Father wanted it to happen.
06:34-06:51
Verse 31 says, "Yet many of the people believed in Him." They said, "When the Christ appears, will He do more signs than this man has done?" The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest Him.
06:52-06:53
See, at this point, some people did believe.
06:53-07:06
They said, "Well, if Jesus isn't the Messiah, what more could the Messiah do than Jesus?" But the leaders had enough. The Pharisees, the chief priests, they had enough.
07:06-07:18
They said, "He's just getting too popular. People are starting to buy into him, and we can't have this. We have to stop him." And it says that they sent officers to arrest him.
07:19-07:22
Well, they wanted to arrest him, but they didn't, and now they sent officers.
07:22-07:23
What happened to these officers?
07:24-07:28
We're going to see when we get to verse 45 what happened to the officers.
07:29-07:37
But look at verse 33, "Jesus then said, 'I will be with you a little longer, and then I'm going to Him who sent Me.
07:38-07:40
You will seek Me, and you will not find Me.
07:41-07:47
Where I am, you cannot come.' The Jews said to one another, 'Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him?
07:48-07:52
Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
07:53-08:02
What does He mean by saying, "You will seek Me and you will not find Me, and where I am, you cannot come." These are sad verses.
08:02-08:09
Jesus was saying, "It's going to be over soon, and you're not going to have to deal with Me here anymore.
08:09-08:13
But the day is coming that you're going to seek Me and you're not going to find Me.
08:14-08:29
You're going to wish that I were still around, but you will never be where I am." In other words, Jesus was saying, "You don't have forever to receive Me. I'm going to be back in heaven, a place that you are never going to be." They're very sad and very hard words.
08:30-08:32
And we saw the people's response to that.
08:33-08:40
"Where is he going to go? Is he going to go preach to the Greeks? What does he mean?" Were these honest questions that people had? Were they mocking him? I don't know.
08:41-08:44
I do know that they just didn't get it.
08:45-08:46
They just didn't get what he was saying.
08:47-08:48
Like, what are you going to do, Jesus?
08:48-08:52
Are you going to go and find some scattered Jews out among the Greeks?
08:53-08:57
Surely you're not going to go preach to the Gentiles themselves.
08:57-08:59
What in the world is he talking about?
09:00-09:10
But it's obvious that Jesus' statement, "You will seek me and you will not find me, and where I am you cannot come," that became a much-discussed statement.
09:10-09:17
Now, this isn't a confusing passage, but it is a passage of confused people.
09:18-09:22
We saw that throughout the passage in response to Jesus' teaching.
09:23-09:25
"Oh, aren't they trying to kill Him? Why don't they just grab Him?
09:25-09:27
Is He the Christ? Nah, we know this guy's from a town of family.
09:27-09:34
What in the world is He talking about?" There's just so much confusion in this passage about who Jesus is.
09:34-09:36
What is He saying? What does it mean?
09:37-09:38
You know, nothing's really changed.
09:38-09:55
At Harvest Bible Chapel, our goal is to teach and preach the Word of God clearly, because we too live in a culture that's all kind of confused about Jesus, about heaven, about salvation, about spiritual matters.
09:56-10:13
And simply today, in light of this text, I want us to look at three lies that your lost neighbors believe, your lost family members, your lost co-workers, Three lies that people in our culture believe, because these lies are directly corrected in this passage.
10:14-10:17
So on your outline, we're going to take some notes.
10:17-10:20
Lies we hear from the lost, and how we should respond.
10:21-10:24
These are lies that we hear, and how we should respond to them.
10:24-10:25
Number one, here's the first lie.
10:26-10:29
"I know what the Bible says." That's a lie that we hear from people.
10:30-10:33
People that have never cracked the spine of a Bible in their life.
10:33-10:39
"I know what the Bible says." And that's exactly the kind of people Jesus was dealing with here.
10:40-10:43
I know what the Scripture says.
10:44-10:47
Jesus doesn't fit how I understand...
10:47-10:50
Well, verse 27, look at that again with me.
10:50-11:02
It says, "When the Christ appears, no one will know where He comes from." That was their belief, and that didn't come from a proper understanding of the Old Testament.
11:02-11:07
See, legend had it that the Messiah would just appear out of nowhere in the temple.
11:07-11:11
That one day, He just shows up out of thin air.
11:11-11:14
Poof! Here He is! Suddenly the Messiah just shows up.
11:14-11:16
Like, where did they get that idea?
11:16-11:20
Well, they wrongly understood Malachi 3.1.
11:21-11:30
It says, "And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple." And they took that verse to mean that that's how the Messiah would show up.
11:30-11:32
That's why they said what they said.
11:32-11:37
Well, you know, when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.
11:37-11:39
He just magically shows up in the temple, right?
11:40-11:44
Never mind all of the content in the Old Testament about the Messiah.
11:44-11:48
Virgin born in the city of Bethlehem.
11:49-11:50
Never mind all of that.
11:51-11:55
These people had the Messiah standing literally right in front of them.
11:56-11:58
And they missed him. Why?
11:58-12:03
"Oh, that can't be Him because I know what the Bible says." And they didn't.
12:04-12:10
If they knew their Old Testament Scriptures, if they knew the Law and the Prophets, then they would have recognized the One standing in front of them.
12:11-12:12
Fulfilled that.
12:13-12:15
They didn't know about the Christ.
12:15-12:16
They didn't know their Bibles.
12:17-12:20
But that didn't stop them from being experts on both.
12:20-12:23
And that's the same thing today in our culture.
12:24-12:32
Everyone - I'm speaking for the United States - I mean, let's be honest, Jesus is a household name, right?
12:33-12:41
Everybody in our country has heard the name and could probably tell you a couple things they've heard about Him.
12:41-12:48
In fact, Jesus' name is so popular and well-known that in our culture, people curse with His name.
12:48-12:51
And people in our culture think that they know the Bible.
12:52-13:00
"Oh, I know what the Bible says!" I went to VBS once when I was a kid. I know what the Bible says.
13:01-13:05
My grandmother, she was Catholic. I know what the Bible says.
13:06-13:18
And people will use or try to quote the Bible wrongly to justify beliefs and behaviors because I know what the Bible says.
13:19-13:22
And church, I have seen this so many times over my ministry.
13:23-13:25
Like the people that Jesus was dealing with here.
13:25-13:32
There are people that didn't know the Scriptures, but that doesn't stop them from speaking like they're experts because they want to justify something.
13:32-13:34
These people wanted to justify not believing in Jesus.
13:35-13:40
What kind of things have I heard people try to justify with a wrong view of Scripture?
13:41-13:46
This video could be hours long if I told you all the stories.
13:46-13:50
I'm just going to give you a couple, and I'm going to give you the short version.
13:50-13:54
I had a guy one time tell me that it was okay to smoke weed because of the Bible.
13:55-14:52
the Bible says. It's okay to smoke weed." I'm like, "Why is it okay to smoke weed according to the Bible?" He says, "Well, doesn't it say, you know, that God created the plants for us to eat?" And I said, "Yeah, you eating your weed?" He's like, "No." But my point is, he was using the Bible to justify what he wanted to believe. I had a guy one time at my old church visiting, and he came up to me after service, and I don't know why this visitor, new guy, felt the need to tell me all of this, but he came up after service and told me that according to Matthew 19, divorce is fine as long as you have the paperwork done. And I said, "That's exactly the opposite of what Matthew 19 is about!" But he went on this whole thing, he was going, "Look, you know, I've gone through this divorce, but it's totally cool because the paperwork's done." And really, in God's eyes, that's all that matters, is making sure the paperwork's done. I'm like, "What are you talking about?
14:53-15:48
Have you read Matthew 19?" He was the expert on it. I've told you before about running into the Jehovah's Witness years ago at Dollar General, and somehow we got to talking, and my wife was with me, and this woman was... she said something about the earth lasting forever and ever, and I said, "Well, you know, the Bible says that the earth is going to be burned up someday." And she got so indignant, she goes, "I read the Bible, and it certainly does not say that!" Interestingly, we were in the aisle where they sold Bibles. Maybe it was Big Lots, I don't know, it was some cheapie store. Anyways, we were in the aisle where they sold Bibles, and I grabbed one off the shelf, opened it up, and showed her what Peter said about this heaven and earth being burnt up, and I showed it to her, and she said, "Well, I've never read that before." I'm like, "Well, I guess it's It's invalid if it's in the Bible and you've never read it before.
15:48-15:49
I mean, what do you even say to that?
15:50-15:57
When we had our first open house to tell people this church was launching, this was back in, what, 2010.
15:58-16:00
Our first open house.
16:00-16:02
We had a guy show up with some family members.
16:03-16:14
And I called and followed up with him after the open house to find out that two of those ladies that were with him were both wives of his.
16:15-16:27
And he went off on this whole thing about how God endorses polygamy and God encourages polygamy and I don't understand the Bible because if I did I would believe in polygamy as he does.
16:28-16:38
And I said, "Well, I just don't think this is the right church for you." And he had some kind of nasty parting shots because I didn't believe in polygamy.
16:39-16:45
But he had his defense built on, "I know what the Bible says." That's what Jesus dealt with here.
16:46-16:50
In Jesus' response, He put them on the stand.
16:51-16:59
That's why verse 28 that I stumbled over earlier, there really should be a question mark after Jesus' first statement.
16:59-17:02
Some translations have a period, but there really should be a question mark.
17:03-17:06
Jesus put His audience on the stand.
17:06-17:16
"You know me? And you know where I come from?" They obviously didn't, because their knowledge of the Messiah was based on tradition, not the Bible.
17:16-17:20
That's a whole other sermon, because that's so prevalent in our culture.
17:21-17:27
My knowledge of spiritual things is based on traditions I've heard, not what I've actually read in God's Word.
17:28-17:30
But people today are happy to be just as ignorant.
17:31-17:33
"I know what the Bible says," and they've never read it.
17:33-17:34
So I want to help you.
17:35-17:38
When you face this, as I have, I want to help you.
17:39-17:49
And you ask me, "What do I say when someone claims to know who Jesus is, but obviously they don't? What do I say to that person?" Here's what you say. I want you to ask them two questions.
17:49-18:01
First, ask them, "Where did you get your knowledge of Jesus?" And then just listen. Let them respond. "Where did you get your knowledge of Jesus?" And then after they answer that question, you're going to ask them another question, and this is a yes or no question.
18:02-18:08
You're going to ask, "Would you like to know what the Bible says about Jesus?" That's yes or no.
18:08-18:23
If they say no, say, "Okay, if you change your mind, let me know." But if they say yes, you need to take them to some passages of Scripture that clearly explain Jesus, like Colossians 1, John 1.
18:24-18:29
Take them to these passages, sit down, read them together, and ask them what it says.
18:30-18:35
Let them see for themselves that, "I know what the Bible says." That's a lie that they've told themselves.
18:36-18:40
So secondly, lies we hear from the lost and how we should respond.
18:41-18:43
A second lie that we need to address is this one.
18:44-18:45
Everyone ends up in heaven.
18:45-18:47
Everyone ends up in heaven.
18:47-18:53
People want to believe that everyone, eventually, somehow, ends up in heaven.
18:53-18:55
And here's the thought process.
18:55-18:58
It's this belief that good people go to heaven.
18:59-19:09
And deep down in my heart of hearts, in the heart of my heart of hearts, at the very heart of my heart of hearts, deep down I know that I'm a good person." Everybody believes that.
19:10-19:27
"Yeah, I've made some mistakes and I might speak sort of gruffly, and I've done some very bad things, but deep down I'm a good person, and good people go to heaven." If there were a lie that I could wish was true, it might be this one.
19:27-19:30
But Jesus was clear. Look at verse 34 again.
19:30-19:38
Jesus said, "Where I am, you cannot come." He was speaking very plainly about going back to heaven to be with His Father.
19:38-19:47
And He said to the crowd, "You're not going to be there." He was saying, "I'm going to heaven, and you can't come to heaven." The alternative is hell.
19:47-19:51
And hell is a truth that's discovered too late by people.
19:52-19:55
Yes, hell is described as painful suffering for sin.
19:55-19:57
It's described as fire.
19:58-20:02
But there's also a very emotional element to hell at the same time.
20:02-20:04
And that emotional element is resentment.
20:04-20:09
That's why Jesus described hell as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
20:09-20:19
That for all of eternity, not only are you experiencing the worst physical torment you can imagine, but you're facing the worst emotional torment you can imagine.
20:19-20:28
You are as bitter and angry and resentful as you could possibly be, maxed out for all of eternity.
20:28-20:38
I heard a preacher this week, and speaking of hell, in this passage in Jesus' teaching here, he said, "Hell is not where Christ is forgotten.
20:39-20:45
Hell is where Christ is unavailable." The hard reality is that heaven is not for everyone.
20:45-20:46
I want you to think about it.
20:46-20:57
I mean, if you live your life on the earth, and you love God, you love Jesus, you love God's truth, you love worship, you love fellowship with other believers, I've got great news for you.
20:58-21:00
You are going to love heaven, because do you know what heaven is?
21:01-21:05
Heaven is God's presence in the presence of Jesus Christ for eternity.
21:05-21:14
God's truth, worshiping the Lamb on the throne, in perfect fellowship with all believers who love Jesus Christ.
21:15-21:18
You're going to love heaven if that's the thing that fires you up on the earth.
21:19-21:24
If you live your life on the earth, you live your whole life and you say, "You know what? I don't want anything to do with God.
21:25-21:29
I don't want anything to do with Jesus. I don't want anything to do with God's truth.
21:29-22:15
I don't want anything to do with worship. I don't want you don't want anything to do with me? Okay, I have a place for people that don't want to experience a loving relationship with me. So you ask, "Well, what do I say when someone claims everyone goes to heaven?" You're going to ask them two questions. First question is, "Where do you get your idea that everyone goes to heaven?" I don't mean that in a jerky way. Just ask them, like, "That idea that everyone goes to heaven, where did you get that idea?" The second question you need to ask, again it's a yes or no question. You I know what it is.
22:16-22:21
You need to ask, "Would you like to know what the Bible says?" And I've had to deal with this issue a lot with heaven and hell.
22:22-22:23
Who goes, who doesn't? Is it eternal?
22:24-22:28
And one verse that I take people to is Matthew 25, verse 46.
22:29-22:40
"And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." You need to take the person that raises that issue, who believes that lie, you need to take them to this verse.
22:40-22:45
You need to give them the context and say, in this passage, Jesus is talking about the final judgment.
22:45-22:49
Have them read this verse, ask them to explain it to you.
22:49-22:51
What does it look like Jesus is saying to you?
22:51-22:59
And you need to point out to them that that word eternal in this verse is the same word for both heaven and hell.
22:59-23:07
In other words, Jesus is saying in this verse that hell lasts as long as heaven lasts and vice versa.
23:07-23:13
So looking at this verse, ask the person Maybe that believes the lie that everyone goes to heaven, nobody goes to hell.
23:13-23:16
In this verse, does Jesus say some people go to hell?
23:17-23:20
In this verse, does Jesus say that hell lasts as long as heaven lasts?
23:20-23:24
And let them see for themselves that everyone goes to heaven.
23:25-23:28
Let them see that that's a lie that they've told themselves.
23:28-23:48
Finally, the last lie that we hear from the lost is this one, "I have time." "I have time." And as we already mentioned, Jesus pointed out here in verse 33, "You don't have forever to come to Him." Isaiah 55 verse 6 says, "Seek the Lord while He may be found.
23:48-23:51
Call upon Him while He is near." Do you know what that verse is saying?
23:52-23:58
"Seek the Lord while He may be found." That's saying that there is going to come a time that He will not be found.
23:59-24:07
And you'll want to seek Him, and you'll want to go after Him, and you will be unable to do it because he won't be found.
24:07-24:11
That's why he says you have to do it now, because today he can be found.
24:12-24:13
That might not be true tomorrow.
24:14-24:16
The lie of the devil that Jesus was confronting.
24:16-24:22
I can reject Jesus now because I have all the time in the world to change my mind.
24:22-24:24
Another question again, to help you out.
24:25-24:26
What do I say, Jeff?
24:27-24:30
What do I say when someone claims they have time?
24:31-24:33
And what do I say when someone says they'll come to Jesus later?
24:34-24:35
We're going to ask them two questions.
24:36-24:37
You see a theme? Trying to help you.
24:38-24:39
Same two questions.
24:40-24:52
First question is, "Where do you get your idea that you have time?" Or another way of saying it is, "How do you know how much time you'll have?" The second question is, "Would you like to know what the Bible says?" And again, that's a yes or no question.
24:52-24:55
If they say no, that's fine, the conversation can end.
24:55-24:59
But if they say yes, you need to take them to Hebrews 3 and 4.
25:00-25:21
And I know I've shared with you in the past, one time during prison ministry, I had a man ask me, "Wait a minute, if I give my life to Jesus on my deathbed, do I go to heaven?" And I smiled at him and I said, "Yeah, technically that's true." And he said, "Okay, I'm just going to do that then." And I said, "No, you won't." He said, "What do you mean, 'No, I won't'?" I said, "You won't do that.
25:22-25:30
And the person that you are ministering to that has that same belief, I'll give my life to Jesus when I'm old.
25:30-25:33
You need to take them to Hebrews 3 and 4.
25:33-25:43
And you're going to need some time to sit down with them because this is obviously a longer chunk to look at than the few verses that we looked at with the other lies that people believe.
25:44-25:55
But the main thing you want to focus on over and over and over and over in Hebrews 3 and 4, He says today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.
25:55-25:56
It's a quote from Psalm 95.
25:57-26:03
And when somebody believes the lie that they have all the time in the world, they'll just give their life to Jesus on their deathbed.
26:04-26:08
When somebody believes that, I explain to them two things in looking at Hebrews 3 and 4.
26:09-26:10
I explain two things.
26:10-26:12
Number one, you might not have a deathbed.
26:13-26:13
Right?
26:13-26:16
It would be nice to think that that's how we all die.
26:16-26:18
Right? I die at 100 years old.
26:18-26:21
I'm laying in bed. I'm surrounded by my family.
26:21-26:22
And I just close my eyes and go to sleep.
26:23-26:23
And that's it.
26:24-26:27
It would be nice if we all died that way, but the reality is we don't.
26:28-26:36
There are car accidents, there are sudden heart attacks, or strokes, or diabetic complications, or cancers.
26:37-26:39
The list goes on and on and on.
26:40-26:45
Truth be told, few people have the deathbed experience that we all think that we're going to have.
26:46-26:48
The other thing I like to say, hypothetically.
26:49-26:53
Hypothetically, let's pretend that you have your deathbed experience.
26:53-27:02
Let's say that you live to be 100, and you're laying in bed, you're surrounded by family, and you don't plan to come to Jesus until that moment.
27:02-27:08
That means every day of your life until then, you're saying no to Jesus.
27:09-27:13
And the Bible says when you do that, you are hardening your heart.
27:13-27:20
It's like calluses on your hand when you exercise or work outside or whatever.
27:20-27:22
These calluses, they don't happen overnight.
27:23-27:31
It's years and years of abuse and wear and tear and work that gets to the point that it becomes so hard, nothing can penetrate.
27:32-27:36
And that's what happens to your heart after years of saying no to Jesus Christ.
27:37-27:41
Eventually, your heart gets so hard, the Gospel won't penetrate it.
27:42-27:50
And it's only going to be easier to say no to Jesus on your deathbed if you've spent every day of your life saying no to Jesus.
27:51-27:57
That's the person in light of Hebrews 3 and 4, after you walk through that with them, talk about it.
27:57-27:59
Why did God give this warning so many times?
27:59-28:02
Do you see how dangerous hardening your heart is?
28:03-28:07
Let them see for themselves that I have time is a lie that they've told themselves.
28:08-28:12
The church, like Jesus, you are in the middle of a confused culture.
28:12-28:16
And they believe the same lies that Jesus was addressing here.
28:16-28:17
We are not Jesus.
28:18-28:32
But we have the same confidence Jesus had, because look again at verse 28, where Jesus said, "He who sent me is true." That was Jesus' confidence. He knew God was true. He knew God's Word was true.
28:33-28:38
So he didn't have any problem sharing it. We have that same strong foundation.
28:39-28:59
And you're not going to show them, these people that believe these lies, you're not going to show them that they've been deceived by arguing with them, or by insulting them. The only way you're going to show them by giving them the Word of God, trusting His Spirit to be at work with His Word, pleading with them to know Him now.
29:00-29:00
Let's pray.
29:01-29:17
Father in heaven, it's amazing how relevant Your Word is, because the same issues, the same confusion, the same lies circulated in this passage about Jesus, about Your Word, the same kind of stuff people believe today.
29:18-29:21
So much confusion, Father. So much misunderstanding.
29:22-29:29
Father, today I pray for my brothers and sisters, that we would find our confidence in the same place that Jesus found His.
29:29-29:34
Jesus knew that you are true. He knew that your Word is true, Father.
29:34-29:35
Why are you so bold?
29:36-29:48
Father, I pray that you would give us boldness, not in a jerky or arrogant or self-righteous way, but in a loving way where we can come alongside people and encourage them to see for themselves what your word has to say.
29:48-29:49
Lies are of the enemy, Father.
29:50-29:53
By your grace and your power, let us be people who destroy them.
29:53-29:55
We pray in Jesus' name.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 7:25-36

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Why do people confused about Jesus (John 7:25-26) receive the same condemnation as those who hatefully reject Him (John 7:32)?
Why do you think Jesus’ statement in John 7:34 became such a “trending topic” for the Jews (John 7:36)?
Why is it effective to ask questions when you are confronting spiritual lies people believe?

Breakout
Pray for one another! And pray for opportunities to lovingly confront lies believed by the unsaved people that you know.

Jeff Miller

April 19, 2020

Knowing Jesus

Knowing Jesus - Knowing the Teaching of God

Jeff Miller

April 19, 2020

Knowing Jesus

  
  Introduction:

How Can I Know Jesus is Legit? (John 7:1-24):
NOT by forcing Jesus to  Perform s. (John 7:1-9)
NOT by adopting popular  Opinions s. (John 7:10-13)
NOT by looking for Excuses to not believe. (John 7:14-24)
BUT by Desiring and Doing, God's Will. (John 7:17)

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

00:00-00:07
Hey, Harvest Bible Chapel, we are so excited to worship the risen Savior with you this morning.
00:07-00:30
We're also excited to be getting back into our series in the Gospel of John called "Knowing About Jesus." Actually, not "Knowing About Jesus," it's "Knowing Jesus." Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the Gospel according to John, and we will be picking up where we left off before Resurrection Sunday.
00:30-00:33
We'll be in John 7.
00:34-00:36
While you're turning there, I've got to tell you this story.
00:36-00:50
At my old church one day, I was standing outside in between the church building and the office building, and a man walked in off the street and just came up to me while I was standing by the church.
00:50-00:51
This is a true story.
00:52-00:53
It doesn't sound like it, but it's true.
00:54-01:02
But this man came up to me, and he said, "I need some paper." And I said, "Well, I can help you out with that.
01:02-01:30
Come on in, I'll get you some paper." He goes, "No, no, no, no." He goes, "I need you to give me $50 to go buy paper." And I said, "Why in the world do you need $50 paper?" And he said, "Because I have some very important documents that need mailed to the White House, and they have to go on special paper." It would cost $50." And I said, "Well, I'm not really in a position to give you $50 for paper.
01:30-01:49
I'd be glad to give you paper, but I can't give you $50 for paper." He said, "Furthermore, I'm about to become very famous." And I said, "You are? Why?" He said, "Because I discovered a hidden song in the Bible about the tribes of Israel.
01:49-01:52
I'm the only person in history and I discovered the hidden song.
01:54-02:00
And I said, "I didn't know there was a hidden song in the Bible." And he just started belting it out.
02:00-02:20
He said, "Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Ishaqar, Zebulun, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Joseph, Benjamin..." And I'm standing on the sidewalk with this guy singing at me, I'm thinking to myself, "He's making a lot of really big claims.
02:22-02:24
He's discovering hidden things in the Bible.
02:24-02:29
He's got some important governmental business requiring very expensive paper.
02:30-02:37
He's making a lot of really big claims." And you know, when you make a big claim, you better be able to back it up.
02:40-02:45
And the bigger the claim, the bigger the proof that you need to back it up.
02:46-03:06
For example, if you came over to my house and I made a claim to you, and I said, "I'm a musician." You would say, "Can you back that claim up?" And I'd pull out a guitar and play you a little something, you know, "dee-lee-dee-lee-dee-ee." And you'd be like, "Oh, okay, you backed up your claim." But that wasn't a huge claim.
03:08-03:21
If you came to my house and I said to you, "Hey, I am the Almighty God." That is the biggest claim, and you better have some big proof to back that up.
03:22-03:25
Well, you know, Jesus Christ made some claims about Himself.
03:28-03:30
Jesus said He was from Heaven. He said He was eternal.
03:31-03:35
He said He was the Savior. Jesus said He was equal with God.
03:36-03:38
Jesus said He had the power to give life.
03:39-03:41
Jesus said He was the Judge of all.
03:41-03:43
Jesus said He was sinless.
03:43-03:45
Jesus said He had all authority.
03:47-03:53
But you know one claim in particular that Jesus made that's absolutely staggering.
03:53-03:55
We studied this back in John 5.
03:56-04:00
Jesus said that He is the subject of the Old Testament.
04:00-04:04
And in this day, the Old Testament was the only Bible they had.
04:05-04:07
But Jesus said He was the subject of the Bible.
04:08-04:10
Can you wrap your brain around a claim like that?
04:11-04:30
and say, "Hey, this book that our nation sets its heart upon and bases its life upon, the nation of Israel, this book that we Israelites give our lives to understanding and knowing, this book... I'm the subject of that book.
04:30-04:34
That book is all about me." That is a huge claim.
04:36-04:37
I want you to think about something.
04:41-04:48
For Jesus Christ to be true, the whole Bible must be true.
04:49-04:49
I'm going to say that again.
04:51-04:52
Wrap your brain around that.
04:53-05:10
In order for Jesus to be true, all the claims that He made about Himself, all the claims that others made about Him, for Jesus to be true, The whole Bible must be true.
05:12-05:13
That's exactly what this book claims.
05:13-05:19
It's the living Word of God describing the person of Jesus Christ.
05:19-05:26
But this morning, as we turn to God's Word, I want to ask you, have you ever wrestled with that?
05:28-05:29
Wrestled with this.
05:30-05:34
How do I know that this Book is true?
05:34-05:36
How do I know any of it's true?
05:36-05:39
How do I know all of it is true?
05:41-05:43
Have you ever wrestled with that?
05:43-05:43
I know that I did.
05:44-05:46
I came to Christ when I was 20.
05:48-05:56
And very shortly after coming to Christ, it was within months, after coming to Christ, I'm sitting on a plane heading to Thailand for a mission trip.
05:56-05:58
I had no idea what I was doing.
06:01-06:10
I remember sitting on that very long flight to Thailand, and I had my Bible on that little tray that comes on the back of the seat in front of you.
06:11-06:19
I remember sitting there looking at my Bible thinking, "Do I really believe that this is the Word of God?
06:20-06:25
Do I really believe that every word in this book is true?
06:25-06:28
Do I really believe that?" Do you know why I was asking myself that?
06:28-06:35
Because I felt, I believed, that God called me into ministry to give my life to teaching this Book.
06:36-06:45
And if God called me to give my life to teaching this Book, I better be sure that I believe that this Book is true.
06:45-06:48
That it is what God says it is.
06:51-06:58
The same way, church, you are called by Jesus as a disciple to give your life to Him.
06:59-07:04
Don't you want to be sure that you haven't given your life to a lie?
07:06-07:16
And as we've gone through John, we've seen a plethora of objective statements about Jesus, right?
07:16-07:19
Jesus is the Lamb of God. Jesus is the Bread of Life.
07:20-07:25
We've seen all kinds of objective things about Jesus in the text.
07:28-07:31
But what about subjectively?
07:32-07:35
I mean, let's move away from the objective facts.
07:35-07:39
Let's talk about the subjective aspect of this.
07:43-07:50
Can you say, deep down, "It is settled in my heart.
07:52-07:56
I am sure that Jesus Christ is God.
07:57-08:00
I am sure that the Bible is true.
08:00-08:10
I am sure that this is really reality." Do you have that 100% subjective confidence in the Word of God?
08:12-08:30
Because the passage we're looking at today will tell you, once and for all, how you can know subjectively in your heart that Jesus, and really the whole Word of God, is legit.
08:31-08:48
So on your outline, "How can I know Jesus is legit?" And Justin Katie isn't here right now to tell me if the kids are still using the word "legit." So, "I don't know." That was cool not too long ago, I think.
08:49-08:54
It's short for "legitimate." How can I know Jesus is real?
08:54-09:00
A reality that all of this in God's Word regarding Jesus is real.
09:00-09:04
How can I know in my heart that Jesus is legit?
09:06-09:11
Well, as we go through this text, first of all, we're going to be looking at some ways that don't work.
09:12-09:21
Some ways that people try to use, or some things that people employ that do not result in confidence in Jesus.
09:21-09:22
This is going to be pretty obvious in the text.
09:23-09:26
So number one, how can I know Jesus is legit?
09:26-09:30
Well, not by forcing Jesus to perform.
09:31-09:32
Look at the first five verses.
09:34-09:36
It says, "After this, Jesus went about in Galilee.
09:36-09:40
He would not go about in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
09:42-09:55
Now the Jews' Feast of Booze was at hand, so his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
09:56-10:00
For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly.
10:01-10:09
If you do these things, show yourself to the world." not even his brothers believed in him.
10:09-10:10
Let's stop there.
10:10-10:17
Jesus was doing ministry in Galilee for about six or seven months because in Judea the Jews were trying to kill him.
10:18-10:21
We saw that starting clear back in chapter 5, verse 18.
10:21-10:26
And the other gospel accounts discuss what happened during this six or seven months in Galilee.
10:27-10:30
John just kind of skips over that chunk of Jesus' ministry.
10:31-10:35
It says that the Jews' feast of booths was at hand.
10:36-10:39
What's the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles?
10:40-10:42
Well, Leviticus 23.
10:43-10:46
Israel was to hold three feasts.
10:47-10:52
The Feast of Booths or the Feast of Tabernacles was one of those feasts.
10:52-10:54
It lasted about a week, eight days.
10:55-11:01
It was to remember Israel's time in the wilderness.
11:02-11:05
That's why they had this festival.
11:05-11:17
It was Israel's way of celebrating or commemorating that once upon a time they were wandering through the wilderness and they would actually build these little booths and stay in the streets or on the rooftops.
11:17-11:21
It was almost like a mass camping trip.
11:21-11:30
And it was to remember where God had brought them from, bringing them into the promised land.
11:32-11:35
But here, Jesus' brothers address Him.
11:37-11:38
Technically they're half-brothers, right?
11:40-11:47
Because Mary and Joseph would have had children after Mary had Jesus, before her and Joseph came together.
11:48-11:50
So these were, you could say, Jesus' half-brothers.
11:51-11:53
And did you know Matthew 13.35 names them?
11:53-11:57
There's James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas.
11:58-12:11
And here John just kind of lumps, I don't know how many were here, and some of them came together, maybe it was all of them, but his brothers came to Jesus and they said, "Hey, we want you to go to the feast." Why? Why did his brothers want him to go to the feast?
12:14-12:19
I found this to be extremely interesting, because do you know what we have here that we just read in these verses?
12:21-12:40
Here we have four men who weren't the Messiah tell the real Messiah that they, who are not Messiahs, had the perfect game plan for being the Messiah.
12:43-12:48
Their game plan was, "Hey, here's how you Messiah, bro.
12:49-12:50
You get down there to the feast.
12:51-12:52
You show them all.
12:52-12:54
You show them what you've got.
12:54-12:55
You show them!
12:57-12:59
Mighty works. Come on, bro. Go show them.
13:00-13:02
Why are you sneaking around Galilee?
13:02-13:04
Why are you keeping it so private?
13:04-13:06
Go show them what you've got.
13:07-13:15
Verse 6, "Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.
13:15-13:21
The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.
13:21-13:22
You go up to the feast.
13:22-13:30
I am not going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.' After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
13:31-13:40
So Jesus said to his brothers, "You go. I'm not." No one forces Jesus' hand.
13:41-13:43
No one tells Jesus what to do.
13:43-13:46
He's on God the Father's schedule.
13:47-13:53
Jesus will go to Jerusalem when and how the Father says.
13:54-14:00
In some translations in verse 8, the word "yet" is added.
14:00-14:07
"I am not yet going up to this feast." We're going to talk about that in just a couple of moments.
14:08-14:10
But for now, Jesus is saying, "For now, I'm staying in Galilee.
14:11-14:12
I'm staying.
14:14-14:21
I'm not going to the feast with you guys." But again, the brothers had it all figured out for Jesus.
14:22-14:26
He had his whole game plan on how he should do his ministry, but there was one problem.
14:26-14:28
The problem was they didn't believe in Him.
14:30-14:38
And church, people that don't believe often want Jesus to perform for them.
14:40-14:40
Right?
14:41-14:42
Come on, Jesus!
14:43-14:47
If You're real, You need to prove Yourself by doing this for me.
14:47-14:52
If You're really true, Jesus, You're going to give me that job that I asked for.
14:53-14:57
If you're really true, Jesus, you're going to give me something that I want.
14:57-14:59
You're going to make that person do this for me.
15:00-15:02
If you're real, prove yourself to me.
15:02-15:10
If you exist, show me." As if that's somehow going to prove that Jesus Christ is legitimate to you.
15:15-15:18
You will never know that Jesus is legit.
15:19-15:27
You will never experience who He is if you demand that He do your bidding.
15:29-15:33
You don't know Jesus is legit by trying to force Him to perform.
15:33-15:34
That's not how it works.
15:34-15:36
That's sort of where the brothers were.
15:37-15:56
And I would say if that's how you're trying to understand the truth about Jesus, by forcing Him to do something for you, you need to get educated "Which one of you is God, and which one of you is not?" So you don't know Jesus is legit by forcing Him to perform.
15:56-15:59
Secondly, how can I know Jesus is legit?
15:59-16:01
Well, it's not by adopting popular opinion.
16:03-16:04
Look at verses 10-13.
16:05-16:11
"But after His brothers had gone up to the feast, that He also went up, not publicly, but in private.
16:12-16:18
The Jews were looking for Him at the feast, and saying, 'Where is He?' There was much muttering about Him among the people.
16:19-16:30
While some said, "He's a good man!" Others said, "No! He is leading the people astray!" Yet, for fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of Him.
16:32-16:35
So eventually, it was the time for Jesus to go.
16:37-16:38
But Jesus went privately.
16:39-16:46
He didn't make the show, or the grand entrance, or the spectacle of Himself that his brothers wanted him to make.
16:47-16:48
He didn't do that.
16:50-16:52
Everybody was wondering where he was.
16:52-16:53
Everybody had an opinion.
16:55-16:57
People were afraid to give it.
16:58-17:01
I think it's interesting, everybody had a very strong opinion about Jesus.
17:02-17:04
Like, what's that like?
17:04-17:05
I would say it's like our last two presidents.
17:06-17:08
I don't want this to turn into a political thing.
17:10-17:14
But I just want you to think about the current president and the former president.
17:15-17:26
Whatever your opinion or feelings are on those two men, can you recognize that with both presidencies, everybody had a strong opinion on one side or the other.
17:27-17:35
"He's the Savior! He's the devil!" And in the case of Jesus, same.
17:36-17:39
Both sides. Very polarizing.
17:41-17:47
But a big difference here, His opinions were all wrong.
17:48-17:51
For example, some people said he was a good man.
17:51-17:52
You're like, "Well, what's wrong with that?
17:52-18:00
Wasn't Jesus good?" What that means is people just reduced him to being a good man.
18:02-18:03
Like that's all he was.
18:05-18:06
And that is an understatement.
18:06-18:10
That's like saying Mario Lemieux was an okay hockey player.
18:11-18:18
That is a severe underselling of who the person is to say that God Almighty - He's a good man.
18:21-18:22
Some people said He was a deceiver.
18:23-18:31
That Jesus was intentionally teaching things that weren't true because He wanted to mislead people.
18:33-18:35
And I just want to say, you can't go with the crowd.
18:35-18:38
We talked about this at the end of John 6, right?
18:38-18:41
So I'm not going to spend a lot of time here, to a crowd.
18:42-18:45
Biblical history has taught us - remember Noah's day?
18:47-19:01
Social media has taught us today that crowds often hold strong, wrong opinions that others get caught up in despite any facts.
19:03-19:05
You cannot go with the crowd's opinion.
19:06-19:13
And you are never going to know Jesus is legit personally if all you ever do is listen to popular opinion.
19:16-19:21
And if Jesus is who He says He is, you better take an honest assessment yourself.
19:23-19:25
Now how can I know Jesus is legit?
19:26-19:36
One more "not." Number three, "not" by looking for excuses to not believe.
19:38-20:13
people like that? They look for excuses to not believe. Look at verses 14-18. It says, "About the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, 'How is it that this man has learning when he's never studied?' So Jesus answered them, 'My teaching is not mine, but His who sent me. If anyone's I know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own authority.
20:14-20:17
The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory.
20:19-20:24
But the one who seeks the glory of Him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.
20:27-20:29
Stop right there. Did you see it? Right out of the gate?
20:31-20:35
People were looking for an excuse to not believe Jesus.
20:35-20:37
Did you see it? Right out of the gate.
20:38-20:39
They acknowledged his amazing teaching.
20:40-20:47
Like, "This guy's teaching is incredible!" But immediately they attacked his education.
20:49-20:50
Or lack of education.
20:52-20:53
It's crazy.
20:54-20:59
They're like, "Wow, this guy is speaking divine words of truth!
20:59-21:02
But what kind of a degree do you think he has?
21:03-21:05
Where do you think he went to rabbi school?
21:05-21:07
Who do you think he studied under?
21:07-21:36
to see some diplomas or some certification here. Like, what difference does it make if God's speaking to you? What diploma God has on His wall? It's foolishness, but they were looking for excuses to not believe. Look at verse 19. "Has not Moses"—again, this is There's still Jesus teaching. He says, "Has not Moses given you the law?
21:37-21:50
Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?" The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?" I'm going to stop right there. Like, what's going on here?
21:51-21:55
Well, there was a plot to kill Jesus, and Jesus pointed that out.
21:57-22:00
But a lot of the people in the general population didn't know about that.
22:02-22:04
So why did Jesus bring that up?
22:07-22:17
You see, the general population, they might not have been aware of the plans to kill Jesus, but the general population would soon be screaming for His death.
22:19-22:21
They're like, "You're insane! You have a demon!
22:21-22:26
Who's trying to kill you?" Jesus knew, like, eventually it's going to be you.
22:27-22:28
You want to kill me.
22:30-22:31
That's your future.
22:32-22:32
Let's pick up.
22:35-22:39
Verse 21, "Jesus answered them, 'I did one work, and you all marvel at it.
22:39-22:46
Moses gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers, and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
22:47-22:56
If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me?
22:57-23:01
Because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well?
23:01-23:02
Stop there.
23:05-23:08
Jesus said, "I did one work, and you marvel at it." What work was that?
23:09-23:11
That's back in chapter 5, verse 9.
23:12-23:15
This is talking about healing the man that was lame by the pool.
23:16-23:18
The man who was lame for 38 years.
23:21-23:23
Some people look for an excuse to not believe.
23:24-23:27
Jesus healed a man who was lame for almost four decades.
23:27-23:28
Did you see the reaction?
23:29-23:44
The people were like, "Yeah, that was pretty awesome, but we have a little problem with what you did, Jesus, because you healed him on the Sabbath, and you know it's kind of illegal to do that stuff on the Sabbath." Which actually isn't true.
23:46-23:54
According to the Old Testament, it's illegal to work on the Sabbath, but Jesus didn't do anything that violated Mosaic law.
23:55-24:07
But Jesus gives an absolutely beautiful and ironclad irrefutable argument for healing this man on the Sabbath.
24:08-24:12
Just to paraphrase Jesus' argument, He was saying this.
24:14-24:17
We're saying circumcision is part of the Mosaic law, right?
24:19-24:29
Well really it dates back to Abraham, Genesis 17, but technically we're focusing on the law, the Mosaic law, Moses, specifically the Sabbath law here.
24:30-24:31
Jesus says, "I want you to think about something.
24:32-24:38
Circumcision was always done eight days after the baby was born, right?
24:38-24:39
That was the law.
24:40-24:42
Male baby born, eight days later, circumcision.
24:42-24:43
We got that.
24:43-24:44
That's how it is, right?
24:48-25:00
But if the baby was born on a Friday, he still needs to be circumcised eight days later, but eight days later would be on the Sabbath if he was born on a Friday.
25:02-25:05
Jesus and the law allows that, right?
25:06-25:40
Why would the Mosaic law allow a baby to be circumcised on the eighth day if the eighth days of Sabbath. Why? Because the Sabbath law was set aside for something that they deemed more important, which was the sign of the covenant. Jesus says, "Everybody knows that's wrong. I mean, everybody's on board with that. Everybody knows that's okay." I healed an entire man on the Sabbath and you're furious. Jesus is saying, "So why Why is circumcision okay?
25:42-25:43
The healing is not.
25:46-25:56
Verse 24, the thesis of the whole passage, Jesus said, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." Come on people, use your head.
25:58-26:02
Think about things before you start protesting based on how they look.
26:03-26:12
Some people don't want to discover, they won't discover that Jesus is legit because they're They're always looking for some objection.
26:13-26:14
They're always looking to nitpick.
26:15-26:18
I don't want to believe, so let me find a reason not to.
26:21-26:42
Many years ago, in the letters to the editor, in the Butler Eagle, there were some letters being submitted, this huge debate between creation and evolution, and there were people saying, "Well, if you believe in creation, "you don't believe in science." And at that point, I couldn't stay silent anymore.
26:42-26:50
Do you have any idea how many branches of science were founded by Christians and it started from understanding God's Word?
26:50-26:54
It's a list longer than your arm. You can look that up yourself.
26:55-26:59
So many branches of science started by Christians.
26:59-27:06
So I sent a letter in, giving that perspective, and it was printed.
27:08-27:10
Well, there was a lady that reached out to me, furious.
27:11-27:12
This lady was an atheist.
27:15-27:17
Furious, so furious that she came to my office.
27:18-27:21
And we had some very lively discussions.
27:23-27:36
We talked about creation, we talked about Noah and the ark, She talked about all kinds of things, Bible and science, and I couldn't convince her of the truth of God's Word.
27:36-27:41
So she left, but she made a parting shot when she left.
27:42-27:51
She said, "Jesus is a liar." "Oh?" I was not aware.
27:52-27:53
Like, why do you say that?
27:54-27:56
because the Bible tells us he lied.
27:58-27:58
Like where?
27:59-28:15
She goes, "I don't know, but it's in there." I said, "Well, if you're raising the point, you have the burden of proof, right?" "I don't know." Well, sometime later she mailed me a letter and said John 7 says that Jesus lied.
28:16-28:21
He told his brothers that he was not going to the feast, and then he went to the feast.
28:22-28:24
Jesus is a liar.
28:27-28:38
So she said, "See? Jesus lied. He lied." Well, let's just ignore the facts that the text itself gives, because Jesus wasn't lying.
28:39-28:43
Verse 8 has the word "yet" in a lot of ancient manuscripts.
28:44-28:53
The fact that Jesus actually went at a later time, not with the brothers, not how the brothers wanted Him to go.
28:55-29:02
Jesus went to the feast when and how He wanted to.
29:02-29:06
In fact, I don't even see Jesus hanging out at the feast, I see Him going straight to the temple.
29:08-29:15
So I have a lot of evidence in the text that Jesus didn't lie to them, but you know, we can't let the facts get in the way of a good objection.
29:16-29:20
And that was the objection to the Bible that she was going to hold on to.
29:21-29:25
Because some people always look for an excuse to not believe.
29:25-29:41
And if that's you, if you're always looking for an excuse, some sort of "the way this is worded, this can't be right." And if you're always looking for that excuse to not believe Jesus is legit, like these people, you're going to find one and you'll never come to really know Jesus.
29:43-29:53
So how can I know Jesus is legit? Not by forcing him to perform, not by adopting popular opinions, and not by looking for excuses to not believe.
29:53-30:01
Number four, but how can I know Jesus is legit? But by desiring and doing God's will.
30:02-30:06
Everything I shared to this point is the introduction. Now here's the sermon.
30:08-30:15
You will know Jesus is legit by desiring and doing the will of God.
30:15-30:17
I want you to jump back up to verse 17.
30:18-30:26
This should be highlighted and underlined in your Bible because this is one of the most profound verses in the entire New Testament, in my opinion.
30:27-30:43
Jesus said, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, He will know whether the teaching is from God, or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
30:47-30:48
Here it is.
30:48-30:52
This is the subjective test to know that Jesus is legit.
30:53-30:58
Here it is, listen, because this is the sermon, and unlike the introduction, this is very quick.
31:00-31:20
The person who truly, deep down, desires to do the will of God, that person that says, "Whatever God wants from me, I will do it!" And that person seeks to live by the Word of God.
31:20-31:25
"If this is what God wants, I want to do God's will, I'm going to do it.
31:25-31:38
Just let me live by the Word of God." God, the person that does that, he or she will know that Jesus is God.
31:39-31:45
His teaching is from God and the Bible is the Word of God.
31:45-31:49
In other words, that person who does that will know that Jesus is legit.
31:50-31:54
And I've got to tell you, this is opposite of what I would have expected the Bible to say.
31:55-32:07
You see, we would think the Bible says this, "Only those who desire to know God's will can do God's will." That's not what it says.
32:07-32:17
It says, "Only those who desire to do God's will can know God's will." Do you have a desire?
32:19-32:22
A true desire to do God's will?
32:24-32:36
And Jesus here is saying, "Well, if you do what God says to do, then you will know." Repent. Turn from your sin.
32:37-32:38
Cry out for His mercy.
32:38-32:40
Believe in who Jesus is and what He's done.
32:41-32:43
Love people how He says to.
32:44-32:47
Do marriage and parenting God's way.
32:47-32:48
Be generous to the church.
32:49-32:50
Give to the needy.
32:51-32:53
Forgive your enemies.
32:53-32:55
is to bless those who hate you.
32:57-32:58
Do it! Do those things!
33:01-33:05
I want to do what God says, and this is what God says to do.
33:05-33:06
Well, then do it!
33:06-33:07
You do those things.
33:07-33:22
You make your life about putting God's Word into practice in your life, and you will know - you will know internally, subjectively, that Jesus Christ is legit that God's Word is right.
33:24-33:25
So have you ever struggled with this?
33:26-33:30
Have you ever had a crisis of faith like I had very young?
33:33-33:50
To say, "Is Jesus legit?" Well, if you expect Him on your terms, if you just listen to what everybody else says about Jesus, if you're always looking for reasons to not believe, You're never going to get there.
33:53-34:09
But when you get to the place in your life that God's will is all you want to do, you'll see and you will know that Jesus is legit.
34:11-34:12
Will you bow your heads in prayer with me please?
34:15-34:27
Father in Heaven, this just isn't enough time to really come to grips with such a profound statement.
34:29-34:39
Jesus taught us that when we want to do Your will, we will know that You are true.
34:42-34:44
Father, so often we get that backwards.
34:45-34:49
We think if we can know Your truth, then we're going to want to do Your will or we'll know how to do Your will.
34:49-34:50
And that's just not how it works.
34:52-34:54
The desire has to be there first.
34:54-34:55
And God, that has to come from You.
34:56-34:58
We are lost. We are dead.
34:58-35:01
We are so helpless.
35:02-35:10
Father, I pray that we stop going with the crowd.
35:10-35:13
We stop caring what other people think.
35:15-35:18
I pray, Father, we stop looking for excuses to not believe.
35:18-35:22
I pray we stop thinking that we tell You what to do, or we dictate the terms.
35:24-35:38
Bring us to a place of humility, where we say, "Whatever God wants, that's all I want." Bring that transformation, with gratitude, Father, into our hearts.
35:41-35:47
So we can walk in full confidence in knowing Jesus Christ.
35:48-35:50
It's in His name that we pray.
35:51-35:51
Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read John 7:1-24

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Have you ever had a crisis of faith, wondering “Is this all real? Is the Bible true? Is Jesus legit?” How did you handle it?
State Jesus’ teaching in John 7:17 in your own words.
What are ways our culture has redefined sin (see John 7:7)?

Breakout
Pray for one another. And pray for our leaders (President, Governor) to make the right decisions in transitioning back to “normal”.

Jeff Miller

April 12, 2020

In Christ: Dead and Alive

In Christ: Dead and Alive - So That We Might Live to Righteousness

Jeff Miller

April 12, 2020

In Christ: Dead and Alive

Introduction:

1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Three Reasons I Am Able to Live to Righteousness:

Because I'm back with the Shepherd .
Because I have new Appetites .
1 John 2:29 - If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Because I now have the Power to make right choices.
Galatians 5:16 - But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin...

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

00:00-00:59
He is risen! Oh come on people, you're gonna have to be louder. I'm way back in Thursday. He is risen indeed. Yes, we have come together today to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most significant, the greatest, and the most impactful event that has ever happened in the history of the world will never be topped. Our eternity hinges on this. So we are going to worship, we are going to celebrate, we are going to get into God's Word. So let's go worship the Lord together today. Open up your Bibles with me please once again to 1 Peter 2 24. While returning there many years ago, when my son Cade was four, he was kicked in the face by a horse. The horse somehow had gotten out of the barn and And Cade innocently ran behind the horse and spooked the horse.
00:59-01:06
And before any of us could intercept Cade, that horse reared back and kicked him right in the face.
01:06-01:12
He went flying, did a full flip, landed on his face in the yard.
01:12-01:17
And I remember running down and scooping him up in my arms.
01:17-01:23
And his eyes were half open, and he had blood coming out of his nose and out of his mouth.
01:24-01:27
He didn't seem to be breathing, and he wasn't responding.
01:28-01:31
And I just remember, horrified.
01:32-01:35
He's gone. He's dead.
01:36-01:41
And after what seemed like an eternity, he coughed, and then started crying.
01:41-01:43
And we rushed him to the hospital.
01:43-01:46
But I'll never forget that moment when he coughed.
01:47-02:00
That moment when he coughed, I remember, "He's alive! He's alive! Thank you God, he's alive!" I experienced going from thinking it was all over to seeing Him alive.
02:01-02:04
And the disciples of Jesus Christ had some of that going on.
02:05-02:06
He is risen.
02:07-02:10
It means everything to the faith, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
02:11-02:12
It means our sins are forgiven.
02:13-02:16
It means eternal life is a reality.
02:17-02:19
It means the gates of heaven have been opened.
02:19-02:27
Every promise has been fulfilled, and it means everything to our daily conduct here and now.
02:28-02:32
1 Peter 2.24, this is what we started on Good Friday.
02:33-02:44
Peter says, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
02:45-02:53
By His wounds you have been healed." Now we covered the meaning of the first part, let's sort of look at the rest of this verse.
02:54-02:58
That we might die to sin and, this next phrase is, live to righteousness.
02:58-03:00
We're going to cover that in a minute, that's like the whole sermon.
03:01-03:01
Alright?
03:02-03:12
But it says, "By his wounds you have been healed." That word for wounds literally translates "battle face." It refers to a bloody mark on someone.
03:13-03:20
"By his wounds you have been healed." The word "healed" means to make whole or to restore.
03:21-03:25
Now the context here is obviously not referring to physical healing.
03:26-03:33
You know, there are many people that point to this verse and say, "See, here is a clear promise from the Bible that God will physically heal us.
03:33-03:45
He'll remove all sickness." And I heard some TV preacher this past week talking about "True Christians won't get the coronavirus." If you have enough faith, you won't get coronavirus.
03:45-03:47
And that is just foolishness.
03:48-03:51
He's not talking about physical healing here.
03:51-03:53
Verse 25, look at the very next verse.
03:53-04:00
He says, "For you were straying like sheep." He's talking about sin sickness, right?
04:00-04:07
You're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, do you believe in healing?" Absolutely I do. For sure. 100%.
04:08-04:09
Some people get healed.
04:10-04:12
And I've seen it more times than I can tell you in my ministry.
04:13-04:23
I would also say at the same time, for sure, someday, everybody in Christ is going to be 100% totally healed.
04:23-04:24
Someday that is going to happen.
04:25-04:33
If he just meant physical healing in this verse, the implication would be no Christian ever gets sick, no Christian would ever die.
04:34-04:39
And that certainly doesn't gel with experience, and more so it doesn't gel with the rest of Scripture.
04:40-05:13
The key phrase I want us to look at here sort of the other side of the coin, he says, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree that we might..." here's the two sides of the coin, "that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." Live to righteousness. The attitude of the Christian life, everything about the Christian life boils down to really one thing. The Christian life is about identifying with the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
05:14-05:19
You know, here at Harvest Bible Chapel, over the years, we have baptized many, many, many people.
05:19-05:21
And that's the very picture of baptism.
05:22-05:58
When you are baptized, when you go under the water, you are saying, "I'm identifying "with the death of Jesus Christ." And when you come up out of the water, you are saying, "I'm identifying "with the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Now, the meaning behind baptism isn't just for the day that you're baptized. That's a proclamation that is made in the life of a believer every day that we have on this earth. I am identifying with His death, I'm identifying with His resurrection. In other words, Jesus died so I'm dead to sin.
05:59-06:06
We talked about Friday. And here today we see Jesus is alive so I live to righteousness.
06:07-06:11
In Jesus Christ, you are pronounced righteous.
06:13-06:17
Meaning from God's perspective, you are 100% holy.
06:17-06:18
You are not guilty.
06:19-06:20
There is no guilt.
06:20-06:21
There is no shame.
06:21-06:22
You are faultless.
06:23-06:26
God sees you as 100% perfect.
06:26-06:26
Why?
06:27-06:37
Well, the Bible tells us in Isaiah 53.6 that the Lord has laid our iniquity on the Messiah, on Jesus Christ.
06:37-06:41
In other words, imagine that this isn't the Bible.
06:42-06:47
Imagine if this book was a record of every sin that I've ever committed in my life.
06:48-06:52
It would actually have to be a much, much bigger book.
06:52-06:53
It would have to be probably a whole volume of books.
06:53-06:54
We're just pretending.
06:55-06:57
So when God sees me - let this hand represent me.
06:58-07:02
When God sees me by nature, He sees my sin.
07:02-07:04
He sees I'm guilty of all of this.
07:04-07:13
But Isaiah 53.6 says, "The Lord has laid My iniquity on..." Let this hand represent Jesus Christ.
07:13-07:19
"The Lord has laid My iniquity on Him." Jesus Christ on the cross took My iniquity on Himself.
07:20-07:22
So now when God sees me, what does He see?
07:23-07:25
He sees nothing but perfection.
07:25-07:28
He sees that I'm righteous and holy.
07:28-07:39
Not because of anything that I did, but because Jesus Christ came and on the cross, He took my sin on Himself." You see, this is how God sees you.
07:40-07:45
And the Christian life, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living within is this.
07:45-07:51
It's living according to what God says you already are.
07:52-07:56
To put it simply, you are a child of God.
07:57-07:58
So you need to act like it.
07:58-08:02
Like, "Well, how do I do that?" I'm glad you asked, because I put this outline together.
08:02-08:04
I want you to jot some things down.
08:05-08:09
Three reasons I am able to live to righteousness.
08:09-08:11
That's what we are called to.
08:11-08:13
That's what Peter says is a reality.
08:13-08:15
That we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
08:15-08:16
How do I live to righteousness?
08:17-08:18
How is that even possible?
08:18-08:19
Well, here's three reasons.
08:20-08:23
It's not just possible, it's expected.
08:23-08:25
You are able to do this.
08:25-08:28
Three reasons I'm able to live to righteousness.
08:29-08:32
Number one, because I'm back with the shepherd.
08:32-08:34
Look at verse 25 again.
08:34-08:47
He says, "For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the shepherd and overseer of your souls." Now obviously here, Peter is using Isaiah 53 type language.
08:47-08:49
We already talked about Isaiah 53.6.
08:50-09:00
It says, "We all like sheep have gone astray, each to his own way, but the Lord has laid our iniquity on him." Peter's using that language to remind us, you were straying like sheep.
09:00-09:04
Sin causes me to stray like a sheep.
09:05-09:11
Now, the Bible calls you and me by nature, the Bible calls us sheep.
09:11-09:20
And that's not a compliment by the way, when the Bible refers to us as sheep, because sheep are the dumbest animal in the entire animal kingdom.
09:21-09:22
You know how I know that?
09:23-09:28
Very simply like this, what do you call the guy who is paid to watch the horses?
09:28-09:29
What do you call that guy?
09:29-09:33
Like, "Well, we don't really pay a guy to watch the horses." Right, you don't.
09:33-09:37
What do you call the guy that you pay to watch the dogs?
09:37-09:40
Like, "Well, we really don't pay a guy to watch the dogs." No, you don't.
09:41-09:43
What do you call the guy that you pay to watch the sheep?
09:43-09:44
Oh yeah, that's a shepherd.
09:45-09:45
That's my point.
09:46-09:55
You have to pay a guy to take care of them because sheep are so weak and defenseless and stupid, and that's exactly what we are by nature.
09:56-10:06
You see, sheep, catch this, without an external guide are driven purely by internal desires.
10:07-10:08
That's how a sheep operates.
10:09-10:10
A sheep doesn't think.
10:10-10:12
It's like, "Oh, look at this grass over here.
10:12-10:22
I'm gonna check this out." And then all of a sudden the sheep is like, "Well, I wonder what's happening over here." And then the sheep's like, "Well, I wonder what's going on over here." And the sheep just, then he just wanders off.
10:22-10:23
And the next thing you know, he's lost.
10:24-10:25
And the next thing you know, he's dead.
10:26-10:27
And that's how you and I are by nature.
10:28-10:29
What's going to make me happy?
10:30-10:31
How can I get what I want?
10:31-10:32
How can I do what I want?
10:33-10:39
What's going to fulfill my sensual desires, my physical desires, just led by the lust of the flesh?
10:40-10:50
We're just like the sheep." But he says, "No, no, no, look at this." He says, "You were straying like sheep, but now have returned to the shepherd and overseers." Overseer, excuse me, of your souls.
10:50-10:51
Overseer of your souls.
10:53-10:54
We have an external guide.
10:55-11:04
Jesus Christ, ironically, the external guide within us. You were straying but now you have a shepherd. You need to follow him.
11:05-11:18
You're able to live the righteousness because you're not on your own. You have a shepherd that you can follow. Back with the shepherd. Number two, three reasons I'm able to live the righteousness. Number two, because I have a new appetite.
11:19-13:12
I have new appetites. When you truly come to Jesus Christ, none of us live a a perfect life. But, something that does happen is your appetites change. You'll never convince me for a minute that the holy, almighty, sovereign of the universe comes and indwells a believer like the Bible says He does for all believers. That the God of the universe comes and indwells you and you are no different, you feel no different, nothing's changed. You'll never convinced me of that. You know, in the physical realm, like baguettes, like. Last September when we were in Thailand, we were sitting down eating dinner the one night and I had my phone out and I was showing Justin Cady a picture on my phone of me with the nature boy Ric Flair, a professional wrestler. And you're like, "Why were you showing Justin Katie a picture of you and Ric Flair. I'm gonna be honest with you, I show that picture to everybody. Everybody that sits down for more than five seconds. If I can get my phone open and to that picture fast enough, I am showing you a picture of me and Ric Flair. I was like 20 or 21 at the time the picture was taken and I was showing Justin, I can't remember what the topic was, but I handed my phone to Justin and Justin looked at the picture and he goes, "Wow, you look like And I guess when I look at the picture, I usually look at Ric Flair because I usually think I know what I look like, but I took the phone back and I took a hard look at like 20 year old me, and I was absolutely floored. I was like, "Holy smokes, I look exactly like Owen!" And then I was like, "How in the world did that happen?" Well, duh. He's my son and we have the same genetics. Really not hard to to figure out, it's pretty basic, right?
13:14-13:20
"Like begets like. My Son looks just like Me." And so it is with the one born of God.
13:20-13:21
Did you know that?
13:22-13:39
1 John 2.29 says - listen to this - 1 John 2.29, "If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him." When you're born again, you take on the character of God.
13:40-13:45
the power of His Holy Spirit. And that's where these new appetites come from.
13:45-13:52
You see, before I knew Christ, I used to love my sin and I had little taste for righteousness.
13:52-15:05
And now, my desire is to serve Christ. And even though I still sin in the flesh, I feel sick when I do. As a child of God, my appetites have changed. How about you? Do you see in your life a growing appetite for righteousness? Like, "Well, what do you mean? Righteousness is kind of a vague term. What specifically is righteousness?" Well, the Bible tells us in Galatians 5 that the Holy Spirit bears fruit in our lives. We have the fruit of the Spirit and He gives us a list. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. Now you don't get like one or two of those, you get the whole basket of fruit. And all true believers should see these things growing in our lives. And come on, none of us have mastered them perfectly, but we should be able to look at that list and say, "These are the things that I have an appetite for, and by God's grace I'm growing." Three reasons I'm able to live to righteousness, number one, I'm back with the shepherd.
15:05-15:09
Number two, because I have new appetites, being born of God.
15:10-15:15
And number three, because I now have the power to make right choices.
15:16-15:19
I now in Christ have the power to make right choices.
15:19-15:19
What do you mean?
15:20-15:22
Well, the Bible says we used to be slaves to sin.
15:22-15:23
Did you know that?
15:24-15:25
Romans chapter six talks about that.
15:25-15:27
Look at verse 19.
15:27-15:29
We used to be slaves to sin.
15:30-15:33
There was a part of us that didn't want to sin, but we were slaves.
15:33-15:37
We had to do what our master, sin, told us to do.
15:38-15:44
But through Jesus' death and resurrection, Jesus opened the door for you to live life the way God intended.
15:44-15:46
We are no longer slaves to sin.
15:47-15:50
The Bible says instead we are slaves to righteousness.
15:50-15:57
And now through the continual reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit, we can do exactly what Peter's talking about here.
15:57-15:59
We can live to righteousness.
16:00-16:03
Like, yeah, I see where you're saying that, Pastor Jeff.
16:03-16:09
I see where you're getting your sermon content from, but why is it so hard?
16:10-16:11
Why is it so hard?
16:11-16:13
I mean, I want to do the right thing, but boy, I sure fail a lot.
16:14-16:15
And why is it so hard?
16:16-16:17
I'm going to tell you why it's hard.
16:18-16:24
Because as a born again believer in Jesus Christ, you and I are a weird sort of creature.
16:24-16:27
We're this unusual dichotomy.
16:27-16:41
We are people that have this new nature from God, but this new nature lives in fallen flesh that craves sin.
16:42-16:54
The Bible says the believers still sin because we live in these corrupt bodies, these fallen physical bodies, and these bodies still have an appetite for sin.
16:54-16:56
They still have a hunger for sin.
16:56-16:58
They crave sin.
16:59-17:02
The Bible says there's a little bit of a tug of war going on here.
17:02-17:03
We have this new nature.
17:04-17:05
We have this sin nature.
17:07-17:08
And that's what Paul says in Galatians 5.
17:09-17:12
These are at war with each other so you don't always do the things that you wish.
17:14-17:33
But you ask, "Well, if God's intention is that I live in righteousness, how can I grow in that?" There's a story about a man that had two dogs. He had a white dog and he had a gray dog.
17:34-17:38
And when he let the dogs off of their leashes to eat, the gray dog was stronger.
17:39-17:44
And he would overpower and attack the white dog and send the white dog running and the gray dog would get all the food.
17:45-17:53
Well, after some time, the gray dog getting all the food was getting bigger and stronger, and the white dog not getting the food was getting weaker.
17:53-18:00
So the man in this story said, "I'm going to do something about this." So what he did was he chained up both dogs.
18:01-18:08
And when it was time to eat, he let the white dog off the leash to eat as much as he wanted.
18:08-18:11
And the man only gave the gray dog enough food to survive.
18:12-18:16
Now listen, this is not a true story. I don't want you calling PETA.
18:17-18:21
This is an illustration. I love dogs. All right?
18:22-18:23
It's just a story.
18:23-18:31
But the man was feeding the white dog as much as he wanted, and the gray dog was getting barely enough to survive.
18:31-18:42
And then after time, after a season of this, the man would let both of the dogs off their leashes again to eat, and the white dog would overpower the gray dog now.
18:42-18:45
And the white dog was able to eat and get as much as he wanted.
18:46-18:47
But what's the point of the story?
18:48-18:50
The point of the story is this.
18:50-18:54
The dog that you intentionally feed is the stronger dog.
18:54-19:16
If you feed the flesh, the gray dog, if you feed the flesh, if you fill your mind with trash, you fill your time with meaningless activity, all your relationships are with lost people, you're feeding the gray dog, and the white dog isn't being fed, and you're wondering why you have little desire for righteousness.
19:18-19:39
However, if you feed your spirit, if you feed the white dog, meaning you are spending time in God's Word, you're spending time in small groups, you're filling your mind and your heart with worship music, you have meaningful relationships in the church with mature believers, you're feeding the white dog.
19:39-19:46
And you'll have little desire for sin as you're starving out the gray dog.
19:47-19:52
Because the dog that you feed becomes the stronger dog.
19:52-19:55
You have the power to make that choice.
19:55-20:07
And this is why Paul says in Galatians 5.16, "But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Barber's Bible chapel.
20:08-20:10
"He is risen." Let's hear it.
20:11-20:13
Come on, I don't care what your neighbors think.
20:13-20:24
Let's try it again. "He is risen." He is risen! Therefore, so are we, to live to righteousness.
20:25-20:38
1 Peter 2.24 says, "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness." Will you bow your heads and pray with me please?
20:39-20:45
Our Father in Heaven, we thank You that the work of Jesus Christ is a transforming work.
20:45-20:53
Father, we confess to You that that's very difficult for us sometimes, because we like how we are, and we're used to how we are.
20:54-21:00
And we have this sinful flesh that still desires the old stuff.
21:00-21:05
Father, You've made it very clear in Your Word that through the power of Jesus Christ, You've called us to live to righteousness.
21:06-21:11
And Father, everything that You call us to, You give us the tools and the power to do it.
21:11-21:15
So Father, I pray that we would lean on these tools that You've given us.
21:16-21:21
Lean on Your Spirit that You've given us in a way, perhaps unlike we ever had before.
21:22-21:25
And learn what it truly means to live to righteousness.
21:26-21:28
Father, it's all for Your glory and honor.
21:28-21:32
We praise You in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read 1 Peter 2:24

What was your big “take-away” from Good Friday? From Resurrection Sunday?
Can a true Christian be continually defeated by sin? Explain your answer. How would you help someone who says they are a Christian but constantly feels defeated by sin?
Since we are delivered from the penalty of sin, is it right for us to ever feel guilt?
Why do you think God allows us to continue to live in sinful flesh even after being regenerated (born again)?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Jeff Miller

April 10, 2020

In Christ: Dead and Alive

In Christ: Dead and Alive - So We Would Die to Sin

Jeff Miller

April 10, 2020

In Christ: Dead and Alive

Introduction:

1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 - And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.

I Live Dead to Sin (1 Pet 2:24):

Because I recognize how Disgusting sin is.
Because that's not who I am Anymore .
Because I'm absorbed with another Passion .
Luke 9:23-24 - And he said to all, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it."

1 Peter 2:24 - He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin...

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

00:00-00:09
You know, I heard in the news this past week that somebody had said, "Because of the coronavirus, we're not going to be able to celebrate Easter this year." And that's not true.
00:09-00:15
We are going to celebrate the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and everything that means.
00:16-00:17
So I want you to join us, Harvest family.
00:18-00:23
Even though we are separated physically for a season, we are still the body of Christ spiritually.
00:24-00:27
So join us in worship, and let's get ready to turn to God's Word together.
00:29-00:32
Open up your Bibles with me please to 1 Peter 2.
00:34-00:40
And while you're turning there, you know in my line of work, I'm around a lot of death.
00:42-00:46
And I've been to more funerals than most people that I know.
00:47-00:53
And you know I was thinking about that a lot this past week, because we never forget the first.
00:56-01:01
Do you remember the first person that was close to you that passed away?
01:01-01:04
For me it was my grandmother, my mother's mother.
01:05-01:09
And I was about 10 years old and I had spent so much time with her.
01:10-01:10
She was my BFF.
01:12-01:17
And I just remember so vividly the day that she passed away.
01:17-01:19
Do you remember who it was for you?
01:22-01:26
You know, death isn't something that we're comfortable talking about.
01:28-01:57
But we turn to God's Word for this message that we have to wrestle with, and the message is, "Jesus Christ died." And the message goes on to say, "Therefore, because Jesus Christ died, Therefore I have died, and you have died, and we need to live dead.
01:59-02:01
1 Peter 2, are you there?
02:01-02:14
Just to give you a little bit of context, you start in verse 11, Peter talks about living for Christ in this world, being submissive to the authorities and suffering in a way that glorifies God.
02:15-02:19
And Peter tells us that Christ suffered for us.
02:20-02:30
As an example, yes, but so much more than that, Christ suffered for us as an empowerer.
02:32-02:40
In other words, Jesus Christ's death has a direct bearing and impact on the way that we live.
02:41-02:47
2 Peter 2.24, this Easter season, we're just going to be looking at this one verse.
02:49-03:01
Peter says, "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
03:02-03:12
By his wounds you have been healed." So let's get the theology down.
03:12-03:13
That's the first part of this verse.
03:13-03:16
We're just going to break it down nice and easy.
03:16-03:23
First of all, it says, "He Himself." And in the Greek language, that is very emphatic.
03:24-03:34
It's like Peter saying, "He Himself bore our sins." In other words, Peter is saying, "God did this.
03:35-03:40
God in the flesh came and was willing to die.
03:40-03:44
God in the flesh volunteered to suffer.
03:46-03:47
He Himself.
03:48-03:56
You know, we hire people to do the hard and the dirty jobs, right?
03:57-04:03
We tell our leaders to empower and equip people to do work.
04:03-04:34
all that delegating. And this job that Jesus Christ came to accomplish, this job could not be delegated. He had to do this himself. It says, "He himself bore." That word "bore" means to carry a heavy weight. And this concept of bearing sin or bore sin, it's all through the Old Testament, places like Numbers 14.33, Ezekiel 18.20, so many more passages in the Old Testament.
04:35-04:38
Every single time it refers to punishment.
04:38-04:45
In other words, Jesus Christ took the punishment that we deserve on Himself.
04:45-04:50
It wasn't just physical punishment, it was the spiritual punishment.
04:51-05:01
That's why on the cross Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Jesus felt separation from God so that we wouldn't have to.
05:02-05:05
He himself bore our sins.
05:06-05:09
There's many different words for sin in the Greek.
05:09-05:59
This word is "hambartia," which is literally "missing the mark." It means that instead of us aiming to do God's will, we intentionally redirect our aim, we miss the mark, we aim to do our own will. It's flagrant rebellion. "He himself bore our sins in his body." This last phrase is kind of weird. It says, "on the tree." Why does he say, "on the tree?" Well, literally in the Greek, the word "tree" is the word "wood." Literally, it says, "He bore our sins in his body on the wood." But what does that What does it mean, "tree"? Why was it translated "tree"?
05:59-06:05
Well, you understand that the Jews did not crucify criminals.
06:06-06:09
Jews stoned criminals.
06:09-06:21
But, under Old Testament law, if a criminal was especially evil, they would take his body and hang it on a tree as a sign of shame.
06:21-06:26
Listen to these verses from Deuteronomy 21, verses 22 and 23.
06:26-06:54
It says, again this is Old Testament law, "If a man has committed a crime, punishable by death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain at night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day." Listen to this last phrase, "For a hanged man is cursed by God." He brings up this concept in Galatians 3.13.
06:54-07:01
Under Old Testament law, a man publicly shamed, hanged on a tree, was considered cursed by God.
07:01-07:03
So understand the connection.
07:03-07:15
While Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, while He was nailed to the wood, nailed to the tree, so to speak, He was on display for our sin.
07:18-07:21
Telling everyone that He was cursed by God.
07:21-07:25
took the curse that we deserve on Himself.
07:29-07:38
You know, this idea of Jesus dying, Peter was presented with this back in Matthew 16.
07:39-07:52
We're not going to turn there, but if you go and look at that passage, about verse 21, Jesus tells the disciples, "I'm going to be crucified, and I'm going to resurrect." The Bible says Peter actually rebuked Jesus. He pulled him aside.
07:52-08:13
He's like, "Hey, you're not going to talk like that because that's never going to happen to you." Peter completely balked at the idea that Jesus would suffer and die, but when we get to the resurrection and we get to when Peter was writing this letter, we see that he got it. He eventually got it.
08:13-08:45
you? The truth is God is holy and He must punish sin. But God is also at the same time loving and He wants to save you. And to us that looks like an impasse. That God is in some sort of an impossible situation. How can He maintain His holiness and demonstrate his love at the same time, and his solution is substitution.
08:48-08:51
And understand that this wasn't a new idea with Jesus.
08:52-08:54
This goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
08:55-08:59
After Adam and Eve sinned, the Bible says that God covered them with animal skins.
09:01-09:05
After their attempts to cover themselves with leaves, it was ineffectual.
09:07-09:15
So God provided a substitute that required bloodshed and death to make a covering for Adam and Eve's sin.
09:17-09:20
Then you get to the Old Testament law through Moses.
09:20-10:04
God prescribed a whole system of sacrifice with the temple and the priests and the very foundation of this system was having an animal sacrifice, an animal substitute, again bloodshed and death that was going to pay the price for sin, and that was just temporarily until we studied this last year, didn't we? John 1.29, Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is our substitute. You see, with no substitute, I am still a condemned sinner.
10:06-10:17
If my sin was not transferred to Jesus Christ, and if He didn't take it, my sin remains on me.
10:19-10:24
You see, either Jesus Christ took my penalty, or I have to take my penalty.
10:25-10:26
It's either Him or me.
10:28-10:30
Jesus Christ was willing to be my substitute.
10:33-10:40
But these next two phrases in 1 Peter 2.24 explain why Jesus did this.
10:42-10:46
Why did Jesus bear our sin in His body on the tree?
10:46-10:47
Why did He do that?
10:47-10:49
Is it to get us to heaven?
10:50-10:55
Yeah, but that's not what Peter's talking about here.
10:55-10:56
Is it to bring us peace?
10:57-11:00
Yes, it is, but that's not what Peter's talking about here.
11:00-11:12
Peter very clearly points out to us that the reason Jesus was our substitute, He took our sin, He was cursed by God for our sin, the reason He did this was to change us.
11:14-11:22
Now we talk about Him changing us, we don't just mean a judicial change or a forensic change or some sort of a metaphorical change.
11:22-11:29
It's a real change, that when you believe in Jesus Christ, you can't be the same.
11:32-11:47
You're like, "Well, what do you mean by that?" I mean this, when you believe in Jesus Christ, you died a real death with Christ on the cross.
11:48-11:53
Now, you are dead to sin.
11:57-11:58
The penalty's paid.
11:59-12:01
Sin has no claim on us.
12:02-12:05
You are dead to sin.
12:06-12:11
But you know, church, we sure don't act like it sometimes.
12:12-12:12
Right?
12:14-12:15
Dead to sin?
12:16-12:44
let's be honest, sometimes we act like sin is an ex, like an ex-boyfriend or an ex-girlfriend. Like, I know it's over, but sometimes I miss her, and sometimes I go see her, even though I know I shouldn't. Sometimes that's how people treat their sin. Like, yeah, I'm done with it, but I still miss it once in a Why would I want to visit?
12:45-12:49
Sometimes we act like sin is a cigarette.
12:50-12:53
Like, I know, I know I quit.
12:53-12:55
I quit smoking.
12:55-13:00
But you know, sometimes I just get-- I get so stressed, I just got to have a cigarette.
13:00-13:03
And that's how some people treat sin.
13:04-13:08
Like, I know I shouldn't, but I've had a really hard week.
13:08-13:11
And I deserve this just this once.
13:13-13:16
Sometimes we treat sin like it's a donut.
13:18-13:19
Right?
13:20-13:21
Come on.
13:22-13:24
An occasional donut's OK, right?
13:24-13:30
I mean, I wouldn't recommend to anyone that you have a steady diet of donuts-- breakfast, lunch, supper.
13:31-13:32
That's all you eat is donuts.
13:32-13:34
I would not recommend that.
13:34-13:38
But if you have a donut every once in a while, That's how some people treat sin.
13:38-13:46
Like, "Why don't I sin all the time?" "Why don't I sin once in a while?" And...
13:46-13:51
But Peter says very clearly here that we might die to sin.
13:52-13:55
You are dead to sin.
13:56-13:56
Dead.
13:58-14:04
And do you know what kind of a reaction you get from something or someone that is dead?
14:04-14:05
Do you know what kind of reaction you get?
14:07-14:12
If you don't believe me, I want you to take this test.
14:13-14:24
Next time you're driving down the road and you see a buck hit by a car laying dead on the side of the road, I want you to get up and try to convince that buck to get up and run.
14:25-14:27
Say, "Hey, you know, I really like to hunt.
14:27-14:28
"So why don't you get going?
14:28-14:36
"I'm gonna give you a head start." Or maybe if I give you some food or a salt lick or whatever it is bucks are into these days.
14:36-14:41
You can stand there all day and talk to that dead thing.
14:41-14:42
What kind of a reaction are you gonna get?
14:43-14:44
None.
14:45-14:49
You're not going to get any reaction from that dead animal.
14:50-14:55
And you see, that's the same way our relationship is to manifest with sin.
14:56-14:59
Sin should not get a reaction from us.
14:59-15:01
I am dead to that.
15:03-15:06
Right now somebody is saying, "I hear what you're saying, Pastor Jeff.
15:06-15:11
I see what Peter's saying here very clearly in this passage, Pastor Jeff.
15:11-15:31
But I'm just going to be honest with you, I don't feel dead to sin." Well, when Peter says that we might die to sin, that word "die" isn't the normal word used in the New Testament for "die." actually the only time it's used is right here.
15:32-15:42
And the word literally means "depart" or "away from." And it is carrying this idea that death is separation.
15:43-15:44
We get that, right?
15:45-15:50
When we go to a funeral and that body is in the casket, there is a separation.
15:50-15:53
Their spirit is separated from their body.
15:53-15:55
Death means separation.
15:58-16:03
So how does that play in our relationship with sin?
16:05-16:06
Well, I want you to think about it this way.
16:09-16:17
Imagine you jack up your car so that the wheels that are run by the motor are actually off of the road.
16:17-16:25
Okay, so you have this car jacked up and you hit the accelerator and that wheel is spinning, spinning, spinning.
16:25-16:27
Where's your car going? Your car's not going anywhere.
16:28-16:33
Why? I mean, it's running. The car seems very much alive.
16:34-16:38
So, if the car is alive, why isn't it going anywhere?
16:38-16:40
The reason it's not going anywhere is because of the separation.
16:42-16:45
You see, the wheel is separated from the ground.
16:46-16:54
And because of the separation, there's no actual power taking place, It's making that car move.
16:56-16:58
And that's how we are in Christ.
17:00-17:05
Our old nature is part of the flesh that I still live in, but we are like that car.
17:09-17:12
Separated from the power of the old nature.
17:12-17:17
I am separated from the very thing that used to have a stranglehold on me.
17:19-17:21
The flesh doesn't have power over me anymore.
17:22-17:25
Because of Jesus Christ, I'm dead to sin.
17:25-17:27
I can choose to obey God.
17:29-17:39
Peter is saying that Jesus conquered sin and it's condemning power, and that dying to sin is a way of life for Christians.
17:41-17:49
So, the next time that you are tempted to commit your favorite sin, I just want you to stop.
17:49-17:54
I'm going to give you three things you can say to yourself when you're tempted.
17:54-17:55
Are you ready?
17:55-17:56
Jot these down.
17:57-17:59
I live dead to sin.
18:00-18:05
Number one, because I recognize how disgusting sin is.
18:08-18:10
Next time you're tempted to sin, stop.
18:11-18:11
Say it.
18:11-18:15
I live dead to sin because I recognize how disgusting sin is.
18:15-18:17
My sin killed my Savior.
18:18-18:19
Think about your favorite sin.
18:23-18:29
The next time you're tempted, you need to say, "Jesus died for that.
18:29-18:30
It's destructive.
18:31-18:32
It's never gotten me anywhere good.
18:33-18:34
It's never going to get me anywhere good.
18:35-18:36
It's disgusting.
18:37-18:39
Jesus suffered and died for that.
18:39-18:41
Why in the world would I want to play in the dumpster?
18:43-18:46
Why would I enjoy the very thing that killed my Savior?
18:47-18:48
How can I enjoy that?
18:50-18:54
I live dead to sin because I recognize how disgusting sin is.
18:55-18:59
Number two, I live dead to sin because that's not who I am anymore.
19:01-19:02
That's not who I am anymore.
19:04-19:10
If you go over to 1 Peter 4, just turn over one page, look at verse 3.
19:11-19:27
Peter says, "The time that has passed suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry." Peter says the time has passed.
19:27-19:31
Yeah, maybe you used to live like that, but we don't live like that anymore.
19:31-19:35
You know, all the time that I spent doing that, it's over.
19:35-19:36
It's done.
19:36-19:40
That is history because I'm armed with a different attitude.
19:42-19:45
My life is no longer dominated by sin.
19:45-19:46
I am dead to sin.
19:47-19:51
I live dead to sin because that's just not who I am anymore.
19:52-19:53
I was a drunk.
19:53-19:54
I was an addict.
19:55-19:56
I was an adulterer.
19:56-19:59
I was hateful and a liar and a gossip.
20:00-20:03
But God no longer regards me as that.
20:06-20:08
He regards me as his child.
20:09-20:09
So?
20:12-20:12
So do I.
20:14-20:18
I am dead to that former way of living.
20:20-20:21
That's just not who I am anymore.
20:23-20:25
I live dead to sin number three.
20:26-20:28
Say this when you're tempted.
20:29-20:34
I live dead to sin because I'm absorbed with another passion.
20:36-20:38
I'm absorbed in another passion.
20:39-20:49
I don't have eyes or ears for anything except Jesus Christ." You know, at the beginning of this message, I said I've been to more funerals than most people because it's part of the job.
20:50-20:53
But I've also been to more weddings than most people.
20:55-20:56
Have you ever been to a wedding?
20:59-21:09
I get the best seat in the house at a wedding because I get to stand front and center, right Right in front of where all the action is happening.
21:10-21:17
And I love to look into the eyes of the groom and the bride as they stand up there.
21:19-21:23
And sometimes, I'll be honest with you, I just pause.
21:24-21:25
I don't say anything.
21:25-21:27
I just let people sort of take in the moment.
21:27-21:30
Because what I'm doing is I'm looking at the bride and groom's eyes.
21:30-21:30
Why?
21:32-21:40
in that moment, they aren't thinking about that "X" that we talked about earlier in the sermon.
21:40-21:43
They're not thinking about past failed relationships.
21:43-21:45
They're not thinking about anything else.
21:46-21:53
They are in that moment 100% absorbed in that person.
21:56-22:12
Church, the more you are absorbed in knowing Jesus Christ, in His Word, in communion with Him and with His people, when you're walking with Him and daily learning what it means to trust Him with every single step that you take.
22:14-22:24
The more absorbed you are in Christ, the more death to sin seems more like a reality than It's just a concept on a page.
22:28-22:36
The more you're absorbed with Christ, the more sin is just crowded out of your focus.
22:38-22:43
I want to flash back to something that Jesus said as we're talking about death and the cross.
22:43-23:00
Back in Luke 9, in verse 23-24, Jesus said to everyone who was listening, Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
23:00-23:15
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it." And you know, in our day we've reduced Jesus' words to simply a metaphor about suffering.
23:17-23:20
We say, "Well, we all have a cross to bear, you know.
23:21-23:23
I got allergies, that's my cross to bear.
23:25-23:27
My husband is a grump, that's my cross to bear.
23:27-23:29
My job stinks, that's my cross to bear.
23:30-23:47
We sort of use it as this metaphor, but in Jesus' day, the people that Jesus was talking to here, these people actually saw people walking down the street carrying a cross on their back and surrounded by guards.
23:49-23:54
You see, Jesus' audience here, they knew this wasn't some metaphor.
23:54-24:04
This was, "When I see somebody walking down the street carrying their cross, I know what that means.
24:07-24:24
That means he's on his way to die." Jesus said to this crowd, "You will know. You will discover." The path to life kicks off with a death.
24:27-24:51
Jesus was saying, "I will die for your sin, so that you might die to your sin." He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree that we might die to sin.
24:52-24:54
Will you pray with me, please?
24:56-25:04
Father in Heaven, as we take some time to talk about the cross and the death of Christ, Father, we very clearly see the connection in Your Word.
25:07-25:08
We died with Christ.
25:11-25:15
Father, the cross isn't just some kind of a ticket to heaven.
25:15-25:17
The cross changes who we are.
25:18-25:22
And part of that change is considering ourselves dead to sin.
25:22-25:24
Father, grant us repentance.
25:25-25:28
Show us the areas in our lives where we need to start acting like dead people.
25:29-25:35
not responding to the temptations that are pulling us.
25:37-25:40
Father, keep our eyes on Jesus Christ and the cross.
25:43-25:48
Let us use the resources that You provided, Father, so that we might live dead to sin.
25:52-25:54
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Knowing Jesus - Knowing the Living Water

Introduction:

CONTROVERSY – 2 separate disputes:

Knowing the Living Water (John 7:37-52):

Knowing Jesus - Knowing Him Now

Introduction:

Lies We Hear from the Lost (and how we should respond) (John 7:25-36):

Knowing Jesus - Knowing the Teaching of God

Introduction:

How Can I Know Jesus is Legit? (John 7:1-24):

In Christ: Dead and Alive - So That We Might Live to Righteousness

Introduction:

Three Reasons I Am Able to Live to Righteousness:

In Christ: Dead and Alive - So We Would Die to Sin

Introduction:

I Live Dead to Sin (1 Pet 2:24):

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Introduction:

CONTROVERSY – 2 separate disputes:

Knowing the Living Water (John 7:37-52):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Lies We Hear from the Lost (and how we should respond) (John 7:25-36):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

How Can I Know Jesus is Legit? (John 7:1-24):

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

Three Reasons I Am Able to Live to Righteousness:

Audio Transcript

Introduction:

I Live Dead to Sin (1 Pet 2:24):

Audio Transcript