The Testimony of Our Lord Jesus Christ

Redeeming Grace Church

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I'd like to speak to you this morning as we return back to our study and continue our study through the

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Gospel of John. So in saying that, please turn with me to John chapter 8.

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John chapter 8 as we pick up verse 12.

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I like to read all the way to verse 20. Much to be said here.

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Speaking of the testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. The testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our

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Lord Jesus Christ has a testimony. It's a powerful testimony.

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And he defends it. He defends it with righteous passion.

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Hear the word of the living God. John chapter 8 beginning verse 12.

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Verse 12 is key. Then Jesus spoke to them again saying,

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I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.

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The Pharisees therefore said to him, You bear witness of yourself. Your witness is not true.

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Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true.

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For I know where I came from and where I'm going. But you do not know where I come from and where I'm going.

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You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one. And yet if I do judge, my judgment is true.

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For I am not alone. But I am with the Father who sent me.

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It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one who bears witness of myself and the

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Father who sent me bears witness of me. Then they said to him,

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Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my

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Father. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. These words

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Jesus spoke in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and no one laid hands on him for his hour had not yet come.

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May God bless the reading of his word this morning from our ears to our hearts. Please bow with me in prayer as we seek our

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Lord's face and favor within this hour of worship. Our Father in heaven, we praise you, we adore you.

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Holy is your name. We thank you, Father, for your word this morning.

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As it has been said this morning in Sunday school class,

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Lord, your word is inerrant, your word is inspired, your word is all -sufficient.

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Nothing compares to it in this entire universe. And Father, we bow before your authority this morning.

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Lord, I would pray that you would help us today by your spirit as your word sanctifies us with your truth, for your word is truth.

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And Father, we thank you. We thank you,

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Father, that there is no need for any new revelations. Everything we need is sufficient from Genesis to Revelation.

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The canon's closed. And Father, now you speak through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And you do speak. And we thank you, Father, that not only you speak through your creation, the general revelation,

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Lord, we thank you that you speak through the special revelation, your word this morning. So, Father, our prayer, as has already been said, this is our prayer this morning from our heart.

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Lord, speak, speak, for thy servant hears. And we would ask this in the name of Jesus for your honor and glory.

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Amen. Now, Jesus declared Himself to be the light of the world. We have already looked at that, and I'd like to somewhat in the introduction here give a summarization of that a little bit more because there's so much to be said within this text this morning.

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But verse 12 is very key for us understanding everything within this text this morning as Jesus defends

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His self -witness of who He is. This is the second of our

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Lord's seven IM statements concerning Himself as we have seen through our study in the

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Gospel of John. And we already have seen that Jesus referred to Himself as,

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I am the bread of life, what Christ says in chapter 6, verse 35 and verse 48.

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And at the opening of this passage, we encounter the second IM out of seven in which

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He makes. But the second one is very important, and all of it is very important as well, but in the context here in the story, verse 12, then

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Jesus spoke to them again, saying, I am the light of the world, and he who follows

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Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. This verse is key in understanding who

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Jesus is and what He means in the statement, He who follows

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Me. I believe that is to be underscored because, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

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While this great and awesome expression appears as a very simple, straightforward, the imagery is very rich, and it's very comprehensive, and it's much to be said here, but the prologue of John's gospel here set the stage for the importance of light.

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Light imagery in John chapter 1, verse 4 through verse 9, as we've already looked at, but you notice how the

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Apostle John begins of Jesus being that light. So the imagery of light reminds us of the descriptions from the

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Old Testament as well, as we looked at, God's first creation was that He created light.

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He said, let there be light, and there was light. Genesis chapter 1, verse 3 and 4 we see.

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God creates light from the power of His word, the Logos, Christ, who is the light, creates light.

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Also we see from God's word that God's presence with His people reminds us, as God delivered

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His people from the house of bondage from Egypt in the Old Testament, that His presence actually symbolizes as light, pillar of fire, a pillar of fire, a holy light that led the people of Israel by night.

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Not only did that light lead them, it also gave them warmth. God provided for them. Because in the desert, as you well know, a desert becomes very cold at night.

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God provided warmth, but He also guided them by the light, by the pillar of fire.

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And a cloud by day. Think of that. The cloud actually sheltered them and given a nice coolness in the heat of the desert.

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So God is all in all to the children of Israel. They saw all the miracles and yet they were the most stubborn, hard -hearted, unbelieving generation of the

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Israelites ever. You see that through the Psalms. So, here is light.

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Therefore light symbolizes salvation as well. We looked at that in Psalm 27. One, the

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Lord, Yahweh, all capitals there, capital

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L -O -R -D, Yahweh is my light.

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Don't you love the way David says, He's my light. He is my salvation.

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Whom shall I fear? So if the Lord is our light and my salvation, whom shall we fear?

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So God's word was depicted as light to guide

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His people. Psalm 119, 105 is one of those wonderful verses everyone should memorize.

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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. God is guiding us by His light and there is no direction unless we know the word of God and hide this word within our heart to know where He is directing us.

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So God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

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God called His people to be a light to the Gentiles in Isaiah 49, 6.

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The prophets predicted that the light would shine forth from the temple in the last days.

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Isaiah 60, 14 -22. Let me read that.

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I think that's very important. All of it's important, but I believe I'm going to squeeze that one in there.

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Isaiah 60, as the light would come.

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This whole chapter speaks of that, but Isaiah 60, 14 -22.

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Also the sons of those who afflicted you shall come bowing to you and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet and they shall call you the city of the

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Lord, Zion, of the Holy One of Israel. Whereas you have been forsaken and hated that no one went through you,

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I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations.

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And you shall drink the milk of the Gentiles and milk the breasts of kings and shall know that I, the

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Lord, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. And he goes on, instead of bronze,

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I will bring gold. Instead of iron, I will bring silver. Instead of wood, bronze. Instead of stones, iron.

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I will also make your officers peace and your magistrates righteousness. Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting your destruction within your borders.

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But you shall call your walls salvation and your gates praise.

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And now he speaks of the glory of his people.

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Here it is. The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor your brightness shall the moon give light to you, but the

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Lord will be to you an everlasting light and your God, your glory.

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Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself, for the

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Lord will be your everlasting light and the days of your mourning shall be ended.

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And I'll stop right there, but you notice this is a fulfillment of what will happen in the consummation that the

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Lord Jesus Christ, there will be no need of the sun, for the Lamb will be the light.

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For the Lamb will be the light. So as the last days, and this speaks of the very last days, the consummation of all things.

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And by the way, when did the last days begin? The last days began when Jesus was born. When he entered into this world.

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And by the way, that reminds us that even when Christ was born, there was a great light that appeared.

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Some has debated what that great light was that led the shepherds to the babe

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Jesus. But I personally believe, if you studied, I really believe it's the

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Shekinah glory of God that came back and reappeared. Because in the Old Testament, the

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Shekinah glory left the temple. And then later on you see those 400 years of darkness and silence.

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And then when Christ was born, the prophecies of all that was fulfilled, that he would be born in the small town of Bethlehem, the

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King of Glory, born unto us, born unto us, in a small remote town of nothingness,

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Bethlehem, the house of bread. So the presence of Christ, the presence of God came.

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And the light of the world came. The Shekinah glory beamed over Christ as he was born in a small stable.

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The light of the world. The light of the world. And the reason I bring this out, because this text in verse 12, it says so much about Christ and all that he says of himself as he gives testimony.

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And by the way, the light of the world means people had one or two choices as we are today that could follow him in the cost of discipleship, and know the light of God's presence, his protection as I've already mentioned, or reject him and live in spiritual darkness forever and ever.

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There's only two choices there are. Receive him or reject him. There's nothing in between.

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And here in our text, in verse 12 to verse 20, as expected, with a hard heart of unbelief, we see the

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Pharisees challenging Jesus' fidelity of his testimony, and they choose darkness.

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They choose to reject him. So sad. But we see this still in our world today.

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And now, as we will see, the Pharisees choose not to believe

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Christ and who he is in his testimony, his witness, and their judgment was according to the flesh, and it was devastating.

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They even argued that his testimony was invalid because he had no other witness to confirm it.

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But Jesus confirms it that he has the Father. That's two witnesses.

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And we will see the importance of that. So I borrowed

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Pastor John MacArthur's five -heading outline here, so I'm sure you'll forgive this pastor of doing this.

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I love good outlines, so I thought, wow, MacArthur really hit a home run when he's preached on this, and I would recommend you to hear what he preaches on.

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It's still available online, but here's his outline from this text from verse 12 to verse 20.

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First, we will see the area in which the conflict took place. Second, we will see the

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Lord's assertion. So you have area, assertion. Third, we will see and observe the leader's accusation.

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Fourth, the Lord's answer to that accusation. And fifth, his announcement to the impending judgment.

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So you have area. You have assertion. You have accusation.

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You have answer, the Lord's answer. And fifth, announcement.

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I thought that was an excellent outline. I said, I'm going to borrow that and use it and preach with that.

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So first of all, let's look at the area. The area that gives us the scene.

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This is found in verse 20. These words, Jesus spoke in the treasury as He taught in the temple, and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

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So here we learn the scene of the previous verses that gives us the setting for the scene.

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For the Lord's confrontation with the religious leaders, mainly the Pharisees, and that place was in the temple treasury.

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The temple treasury. It's interesting that, I love what

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MacArthur brings out about this, because we think of, most of the time when we think of temple, the building itself, but it's not in reference to a building in this text, but to the 13 trumpet -shaped receptacles, which is the treasure boxes that were located in the outermost court in the temple.

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So that's the treasury, the 13 trumpet -shaped receptacles, or you could say the treasure boxes that were located in the outermost court.

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Actually, MacArthur comments here, let me give you a quote. This is what he says.

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It was so named because it was as far into the temple area as women were normally permitted to go.

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So each treasure box was marked to designate how the money put in it would obstinately be used for the temple tax and various offerings.

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And he goes on to say, it was at this site that Jesus would later observe a poor widow making her might offering, her sin offering, in Mark chapter 12, verse 41 through 44, in Luke 21, 1 through 11.

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So, end quote. So we know about that story, and that's exactly where Jesus is.

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And it was here at the treasury, the court of the women, the outer part of the court, which was a busy, very busy public location, which was idea for Jesus to speak.

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It was a very busy, a lot of crowds would come around, and Christ knew that this would be a great place to speak and to teach.

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And that's where He chose to teach. Now, interesting to note that as I was looking into the study of this, at that particular place, the

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Sanhedrin met basically in a nearby hall. It was a stone throw distance, which the

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Lord's voice could be heard in that section, at the stone throw's distance.

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And yet, the Bible says here in this verse, that no one seized Him. No one laid hold of Him.

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No one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.

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And Scripture tells us, His hour, and we know that that hour is speaking about His hour of death,

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His hour of crucifixion. That was by divine appointment, by divine sovereignty of the

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Father, by divine schedule, by what God was ordering every day, every minute, every second was critical.

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And Jesus was right on that time schedule, right on that timetable, the sovereign timetable of God.

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So that His enemies were really powerless, I love this, they were powerless to lay hold of Him and harm

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Him before His appointed time. And God had appointed every bit of that.

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And Christ was always on schedule until He came to that appointed time, that hour when

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He died on Calvary's cross. Now, so the treasury in the temple is the setting here, that's the area.

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So that's found in verse 20. Next we observe, secondly, the assertion, the assertion.

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The assertion is verse 12. I've already commented on it, I've already preached a whole sermon on it, but you could go on and do a great study on it, beloved, believe me, there's so much more in the

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Scriptures when it comes to light. What God has to say about light, but Jesus said, spoke to them again, again, saying,

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I am the light of the world, he who follows me, I would really say, underscore that, follows me, what does it mean to follow

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Jesus? He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.

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So Christ gives the assertion there. The scene is in the treasury of the temple, verse 20, a multitude was still following Him, He turns to them and made one of the many grand statements as to His Messiahship, and underscore each one of those is,

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I am, because Christ is the I am, that I am, the one that spoke to Moses from the burning bush, the one, all the

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I am's, and all that Christ is, and that's where the word, the name

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I should say, Yahweh comes from. Yahweh. He turns to them,

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He refers to His Messiahship, the light of the world. And again, in the context here, naturally speaking, the world, there's many different definitions of the world, sometimes cosmos, sometimes speaking of not only the cosmos, but the earth itself, the world itself in which

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God made, but here it's speaking of the world system, that is in darkness, and the darkness is the darkness of sin.

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Paul even made the statement that the God of this world has blinded the minds of them that do not believe the gospel.

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So they're in darkness of sin, they're in ignorance of sin, they're in aimlessness of sin.

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Apart from Jesus, there is no deliverance, and there's no guidance, and there's no way of life.

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That's why Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the

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Father but by Me. No one. So, there's no guidance of life, no knowledge of life, no real meaning of life, and there's no really, the issues of eternity would be not even important if it was not

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Jesus in the picture. I like what

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J .C. Rowles, it's not exactly what he said, but I'll paraphrase it. He said, take Jesus Christ out of the

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Bible, and you have a very dark book. That is so true.

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Take Christ out of the Bible, and we have no hope. We have no salvation. He's everything.

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And here Jesus says, I am the light of the world. He's the bright morning star, and He shines bright throughout all the

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Scriptures. So we have the area, we have the assertion, then third, we have the accusation.

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The accusation. The accusation is found in verse 13. The Pharisees therefore said to Him, You bear witness of Yourself, Your witness is not true.

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That's the accusation. They're outright denying His Messiahship. They are outright denying

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His testimony that He said was valid, and it is valid.

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But they are denying it. The Pharisees. The theologians of the day.

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They just said, You bear witness of Yourself, Your witness is not true. The Pharisees challenged

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Christ. And they challenged Him on a legal point here. According to the

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Old Testament law, every fact in a legal matter had to be established by the testimony of more than one witness.

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Many verses to that, by the way. You have Numbers 35 -30, Deuteronomy 17 -6,

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Deuteronomy 19 -15, Matthew 18 -16, 2 Corinthians 13 -1, 1

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Timothy 5 -19, Hebrews 10 -28. They were skeptics.

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They were skeptics. Skepticism of the Pharisees. And actually, the skepticism of the

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Pharisees just illustrate how hard their hearts were. It was a hard heart of unbelief.

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And folks, to the root of that was their pride. They were unbelieving.

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Never convinced, no matter how compelling Jesus gave the evidence.

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Nonetheless, to those who honestly seek the Lord, Jesus Christ in truth, and come to Him in repentance, and seeking

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Him with all our hearts, their hearts, if anyone is willing to do the

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Father's will, Jesus said, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak of myself.

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That's exactly what Jesus said. John 7 -17. So, we have the arium.

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That's the scene. And the treasury of the temple. We have the assertion.

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We have the accusation in verse 13. The assertion in verse 12. Now we get to the heart of the text.

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We observe the answer. The Lord's answer to that accusation.

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And that is the bulk of this message that's given to us in verse 14 -19.

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Let me read it. Jesus answered and pay close attention to what

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He says here. Jesus answered and said to them, even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true.

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For I know where I came from and where I am going.

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But you do not know where I come from and where I'm going. You judge according to the flesh.

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I judge no one. And yet, if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the

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Father who sent me. He gives the witness there, the Father. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.

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I am one who bears witness of myself and the

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Father who sent me bears witness of me. And then they said to Him, where is your

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Father? Jesus gives us three reasons why

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Jesus' witness is true. The first reason is that Jesus knew

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His origin. He knew His origin. He knew where He came from.

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And His destiny, He knew where He was going. He knew where He came from and He knew where He was going.

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And then He says, while the Jews were even ignorant of this basic spiritual truth, the truth that He is making, the making their judgment limited and it also made it superficial according to verse 14 and 15.

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So the Lord recognized that usually it was necessary to have two or three witnesses and He gives it.

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But in His case, He gives two witnesses, Himself and the

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Father. But His witness was absolutely true because He is

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God. Isn't this what the book of John is all about?

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He is Lord. He is God in the flesh. He knew that He had come from heaven and He knew that He was going to go back to heaven.

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His origin and His destination are in view in this text.

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Yet, yet, they, the Pharisees, did not know where He had come from and where He was going.

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They did not know. They were in darkness. They thought

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He was just another man like themselves. They were blaspheming, saying

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He was equal with God, which eventually the reason they laid forth to put

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Him to death on the cross. They would not believe. They refused to believe. They totally, completely rejected that He was the eternal

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Son of the living God and that He was equal with His Father. So, keep in mind that this first point, the reasons

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He gives is Jesus knew His origin and Jesus knew His destination. The second reason is that Jesus had an intimate union or unity with the

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Father. The Son had intimate union with the

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Father and it guaranteed the truth of the Son's witness.

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Verse 16, the Lord says it. He says, and yet, if I do judge, my judgment is true.

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My judgment is true. For I am not alone.

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I am not alone. But I am with the Father who sent Me. The Father sent

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Him and He's with the Father. And here He is, God the Son, the

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Holy Righteous One. Everything He does is done in perfect union with the

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Father who sent Him. Over and over and over again and again and again, the

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Lord Jesus emphasizes to the Pharisees His unity, His union with God the

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Father and it was this that stirred up their hard hearts to such bitterness and hate to nail

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Him to the cross. He's very close to that and they eventually do this.

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The third thing that we see here along in this text of the answer that Jesus gives to their accusation is the

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Father and Son has witnessed union together regarding the identity of the

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Son in verse 17 and 18. It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.

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Jesus says, I am one who bears witness of Myself and the

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Father who sent Me bears witness of Me. Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses every word is established.

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And here He is, the truth Himself gives that.

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And actually this is in light of Deuteronomy 17 .6

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and I'll quote it to you which comes from a book as Brother Keith mentioned that Jesus quoted quite often.

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Deuteronomy 17 .6 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

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He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. So at the hands of the witnesses shall be the first against Him to put to death and afterwards to hands of all people so shall you put away the evil from among you.

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So there you have out of two or three witnesses speaking of execution of an idolater that could not take place on the basis of just hearsay.

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It must be witnesses. That's still used today isn't it in a court of law.

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And they get that from the Scriptures. So the two or three witnesses was required by the law of Moses.

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Nothing He had said was intended to deny that fact. If they insisted on having two witnesses it was not difficult for Him to produce them and He did.

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For example, first of all He bore witness of Himself by Him being sinless.

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He was the spotless, sinless Lamb of God and by His words that come out of His mouth perfect.

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That's one. Secondly, the Father bore witness of the Lord Jesus Christ audibly several times.

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You see this at His baptism. You see this at the bound of transfiguration. And you also see this and read it in Scripture before His death that the

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Father speaks audibly and confirms that. Now, we note in Scripture that many times especially the first time when the

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Father speaks of His Son they thought it thundered. But God the

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Father said this is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased. And another time at the bound of transfiguration

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He says this is My beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased.

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Hear Him. That's the word from the Father. Hear My Son.

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Hear My Son. Isn't that what the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews chapter 1?

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The Son has spoken. God, God who at various times and various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets has in these last days spoken to us by His Son whom

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He has appointed Heir of all things through whom also He made the worlds who be in the brightness of His glory and express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power when

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He had Himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high having become so much better than the angels as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than day.

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And He goes on to say notice this for to which the angels did

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He ever say you are

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My Son today I have begotten you and again

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I will be to Him a Father and He shall be to Me a Son and the writer of Hebrews goes on to make this point and when

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He again brings the firstborn into the world He says let all the angels of God worship

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Him and all the angels He says who makes His angels the spirits and His ministers a flame of fire but to the

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Son He says your throne O God is forever and ever and a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness therefore

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God your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions

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He's speaking of Christ He is the anointed one not these false teachers that give this false interpretation that they are the anointed of God that's blasphemy

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Jesus and Jesus alone was the anointed one and you verse 10 and you

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Lord in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of your hands they will perish but you will remain and they will all grow like grow old like a garment like a cloak you will fold them up and they will be changed but you are the same

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He's immutable and your years will not fail but to which the angels has

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He ever said sit at my right hand till I make your enemies at your footstool keep in mind the writer here we don't know who the writer is but he's an

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I would think he's an apostle but we don't know who he is it's not revealed to us it really doesn't matter because God this is

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God's word and it's God's revelation and it's inspired it's inherited it's sufficient it's been said this morning praise

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God but what matters is this is God speaking of Jesus and then he says in verse 14 are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation book of Hebrews this writer is writing to the

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Hebrews letting them know who Christ is who Christ is so we've seen the area the assertion the accusation the answer now last verse 21 go back to John verse 21 this is a powerful powerful announcement from the

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Lord again we must accept and before I read this we must accept and receive the warnings in Scripture as well as the encouragements here's a warning but it's a powerful announcement

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Jesus gives to these Pharisees and I'll be honest with you beloved if I was in that crowd of the Pharisees I would be trembling my boots because Jesus says then

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Jesus said to them I am going away and you will seek me and will die in your sin folks when

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Jesus says that it actually happens he's God in flesh and that's what happens you want to know what happens to these

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Pharisees here they die in their sins only one

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I know out of 6 ,000 Pharisees that did not die in their sins and that was

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Nicodemus and he came to faith in Christ and repented but here these Pharisees here die in their sins and Jesus said it he says where I go you cannot come look back with me to chapter 7 look at verse 32 to 36 the

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Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning him and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him then

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Jesus said to them I shall be with you a little while longer and then I go to him who sent me you will seek me and not find me he says it again in chapter 8 here in chapter 7 and where I am you cannot come you hear what he's saying you cannot come you don't have the ability to come unless it's granted from the

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Father right? and the sheep come the elect come in because the sheep hear his voice he's obviously referring to them as goats and that's exactly what they are then the

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Jews in verse 35 said among themselves they did not get it where does he intend to go that we shall not find him they're totally confused does he intend to go to the dispersion among the

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Greeks and teach the Greeks he's talking about eternity here verse 36 what is this thing that he said you will seek me and not find me and where I am you cannot come do you see how great that darkness is that deception is and you and I have witnessed this among people we have relatives like this right that are totally in darkness and you can tell them the gospel and they sit there and nod their head and they say yes, yes, yes but yet they do not understand because the spirit must illuminate that to them and the spirit is the spirit of truth that gives that light from the word of God I've come to the conclusion of my relatives to be very, very careful not to cast my pearls before the swine and just go on my face before God and say spirit of God open their eyes and beg

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God for mercy for their souls it doesn't mean there's not a time and place to tell of the word but we must be very careful and be prayerful about it so here the religious leaders felt the necessity to act and they sent the temple guards the police to arrest

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Jesus as you know that we've already covered that territory but John the apostle builds up the suspense and the narrative by noting that the temple police were not dispatched it was in really the sovereignty of God's plan until Christ is arrested and we see that later on but that is

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God's timetable and they are not mentioned again until they return empty handed in verse 21

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John chapter 8 shows us Jesus' perfect knowledge of the future he even tells his critics he was going away that refers not only to his death and burial but also it refers to his resurrection and his ascension back to heaven back to heaven where he came from the

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Jewish people would continue to seek for the Messiah not realizing that he had already visited them think of that he already came they will continue to seek him where is our

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Messiah and yet they crucify the holy one the righteous one the day of visitation came and now it will be the day of judgment for them the cause of their rejection no doubt rejection rejecting

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Jesus Christ is the most heinous of all sins outside of blasphemy of the

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Holy Spirit Jesus said they would die in their sin singular meaning this would mean that they would be forever and forever prevented from entering into the kingdom of God where the

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Lord was going oh beloved this is such a solemn sobering truth isn't it those who refuse those who reject

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Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Christ absolutely have no hope of eternal life now or in heaven how dreadful how terrible to die in one sin without God without Christ and without hope

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Hebrews is loaded with verses about this let me give you a few I'm thinking right now

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Hebrews 10 31 such another sober solemn reminder of us for us it is a fearful another translation says a terrifying thing a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living

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God to fall into the hands of the living

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God Hebrews chapter 3 go with me to Hebrews 3 look at this in our closing then

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I will give a quick application therefore holy brethren speaking to God's people here holy brethren partakers of the heavenly calling consider the apostle the apostle who's he said an high priest of our confession

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Moses? No Christ Jesus he is the apostle he is the sent one from heaven comes from the light the world of light itself from heaven of all the glory in which he makes he descends and condescends condescends in humility great humility and becomes flesh the

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Messiah comes into the world to save sinners he is the apostle and high priest of our confession beloved isn't that great

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Christ Jesus who was faithful to him who appointed him as Moses was faithful to all his house for this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses don't you love that for the law was given through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ then he says in as much as he who built the house has more honor than the house you hear that Christ is the one that built the house for every house is built by someone but he who built all things is

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God Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward but Christ as a son over his own house whose house we are if we hold fast to confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end folks we must persevere but keep in mind

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God keeps you and God helps you to persevere he strengthens us and if you are

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God's child you will persevere therefore as the

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Holy Spirit says I love that it's like the apostle whoever is writing this is saying the

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Holy Spirit says and he takes this from Psalm 95 today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion as in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tested me tried me and saw my works 40 years 40 years therefore

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I was angry with that generation and they said they always go astray in their heart how convicting is that has your heart gone astray and they have not known my ways so I swore my wrath they shall not enter my rest and then he goes on to say beware brethren he's speaking to God's people beware a warning lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living

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God and this is why it's important to do this notice in verse 13 but exhort one another daily while it is called today lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end again he says it while it is said today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion and then he goes on to say for who having heard rebelled indeed was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses now with whom was he angry for 40 years was it not with those who sinned those whose corpse fell in the wilderness and to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest but to those who did not obey so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief and beloved that takes us back to our text that's why these pharisees were rejected they had a hard heart of unbelief hard heart and unbelief the reality of this sobering truth is repeated throughout the scripture isn't it that those who reject

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Jesus Christ will suffer horrible consequences of sin and it's beyond our imagination how horrible it is it's eternal separation from God forever and ever but beloved let us remember that that's why

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Jesus went to the cross he took that on himself that we could enter in so that's why all of our trust and our faith is in Jesus Christ alone who died on that cross and took our sin as the lamb of God hallelujah there's no other way for the cross bridges that great gulf there is hope in Jesus Christ who died in our place as our substitutionary sacrifice one more application go with me to 1

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Corinthians chapter 1 I believe this perfectly fits to the text the apostle

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Paul says in verse 3 chapter 1 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the

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Lord Jesus Christ grace to you peace from God our

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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus that you were enriched in everything by him in all utterance and all knowledge notice what he says in verse 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you

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Christ's testimony was confirmed in you so that you come short in no gift eagerly waiting for the revelation of our

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Lord Jesus Christ who will also confirm you to the end

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Christ will confirm you to the end that you may be blameless in the day of our

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Lord Jesus Christ notice where Paul puts it God is faithful God keeps his word folks

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God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of his son

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Jesus Christ our Lord hallelujah you were enriched in everything by him in present the believer has everything the

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Lord gives for life and godliness as Peter says in 2

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Peter 1 3 all knowledge

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God provides believers the knowledge of the truth in order to speak his testimony we are to speak the testimony of Christ the testimony of God in power and in truth then it becomes our testimony that's why in Revelation it says we overcome them by the blood of the

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Lamb talking about Satan and the enemies we overcome them by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of your testimony one more if you go to Revelation 19 you have the apostle

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John in a vision, he's in a vision and he sees that the consummation of all things and by the way chapter 19 is basically the

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Lamb wins that I don't know a lot of the details between folks but all that matters is

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Christ wins I told my wife she wouldn't like it if she was here

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I mean using her as an illustration here but I was telling her about the amillenniaism and the premillenniaism and the postmillenniaism and then

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I said well honey there's one more it's pamillenniaism she said that's me I said hallelujah me too

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I don't understand a lot of the how it's all the details and actually

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I think these theologians today is debating all this all mixed up themselves but not to say that there isn't an eschatology to hold to but let me say this what really matters is that Jesus wins that's what we tell people and if they're on the losing end they're going to be cut down period

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God's giving them a little borrowed time and breath in their body to repent but that today is the day of salvation which the word of the

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Lord says well my time's gone but listen to what it says in Revelation 19 and I heard as it were the voice of great multitude and the sound of many waters as the sound of mighty thunderings saying hallelujah could you imagine hearing this thousands and thousands and thousands of voices for the

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Lord God omnipotent reigns let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory for the marriage of the

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Lamb has come and his wife has made herself ready his wife is the church and to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints isn't that beautiful verse 9 and then he said to me write blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the

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Lamb and he said to me now listen closely to what he says these are the true saints of God and I fell at his feet to worship him this is that angel and he said to me see that you do not do that the angel rebukes the apostle

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I am your fellow servant and of your brethren and notice what the angel says who have the testimony of Jesus worship

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God worship God for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy the divine words of God Christ bore witness where he came from why he was here and his duty and his work his person and his work and the father witnessed it

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God himself the divine author God the father witnesses

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Christ's testimony is true and faithful today is the day of salvation may not a one of us leave this little building unless we have repented and believed the gospel for the testimony of Jesus Christ amen to God be the glory let's pray our father

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Lord there is so much more that could be said but Lord your word is sufficient and father we do praise you and we give you thanks for your holy word thank you father that it sanctifies us and cleanses us and makes us ready for that great marriage supper of the lamb may we be ready may we not be like the five foolish virgins

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Lord that did not have oil in their lamp but may we have plenty of oil burning brightly for our

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Lord Jesus Christ father as you've said in Isaiah 66 heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool where is the house that you will build me where is the place of my rest for all these things my hand has made and all these things exist says the

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Lord but on this one may we be this one Lord you said you will look on him who is poor, humble of a contrite broken spirit and those who tremble at your word

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Lord may it be so with us by your help and grace in Jesus name