The One Abraham Looked Forward To | Sermon 06/18/2023

Apologia Utah

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All right, if you would, please turn with me in your Bibles to John Chapter 8, this is going to be our last sermon in John Chapter 8.

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We're going to be in verses 48 through 59. And the title of the sermon today, church, is the one

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Abraham looked forward to. The one Abraham looked forward to.

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Verses 48 through 59, John 8. Hear now the glorious truths of the

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Holy Scripture. The Jews answered and said to him, Do we not say rightly that you are a

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Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my

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Father and you dishonor me. But I do not seek my glory, there is one who seeks and judges.

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Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.

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The Jews said to him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also.

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And you say, If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death. Surely you are not greater than our father

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Abraham who died. The prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be?

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Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me, of whom you say he is our

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God. And you have not come to know him, but I know him. And if I say that I do not know him,

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I will be a liar like you. But I do know him and keep his word. Your father

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Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. So the

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Jews said to him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?

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Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.

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Therefore they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

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Thus ends the reading of God's glorious word. Let's pray. Lord, help us to see this for how magnificent it is.

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Lord, help us to see Christ for the way he wants to be seen.

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Lord, help us to shake off what has burdened us this week and to come to you with open ears and open eyes, with cups empty that are ready to be filled.

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Move, Lord, among your people by the Holy Spirit this very hour and speak through me,

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Lord, I beg you. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, this past week, many of us were witness to actually a gender reveal.

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Thankfully, it was just the sort of kind where there's only two. And that was good.

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And we found out a dear family in our church here at Apologia, they're having a baby boy.

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And so we rejoice with them. And you know, when a family is having a baby, there's all this anticipation.

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For many, there is this exciting expectation.

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But for some, typically, siblings afraid of replacement or something like that.

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There can be some sort of foreboding countdown that occurs until the little monster arises.

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They might think in their mind. Maybe you've seen that in your own family or maybe your sibling was like that towards you or you were like that towards your younger sibling.

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Often, hearts that are like that change immediately when they see that little baby girl, that little baby boy.

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And they develop a deep love for their new little sibling. However, there can be those really tricky, stubborn children who refuse to accept this baby for a time.

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And for Jesus, the one whom it was promised would come and redeem humanity from the curse of the fall.

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There were those who eagerly anticipated His coming. That He would redeem humanity.

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And there were those who could care less. They didn't anticipate His coming. By this time in history in John, the

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Jews had muddied that blessed hope of a Redeemer with their own sin.

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They mixed it together. They couldn't recognize the holy seed for who

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He was. He was rejected by the stubborn and stiff -necked brother.

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And the ones they claim as their own, Father Abraham and the prophets, longed for the day when the

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Messiah would come. And therefore, their claim is rendered void. They are unlike any of whom they claim.

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Father Abraham is ours. The prophets are ours. No. And they're not even like God, as we saw

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Jesus say last week. So in this final confrontation in John chapter 8, we will see

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Jesus stand for the truth. He will defend Himself against lies.

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And He will even provoke His opponents while doing so.

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And yet, the amazing thing is, and you might have already seen it, in the middle of this confrontation there was a glimpse of hope.

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So let's take a look now. Verse 48. You have the printout or you can grab your

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Bible on your phone or in your physical Bible. But real quick, we have to remember the context we're in.

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Jesus had just made one of the most offensive claims anyone could ever make against the

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Jews. Not only are they not the children of Abraham, they are not the children of God. He said that last week.

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Their covenantal status, their special covenantal standing is null and void.

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Their inheritance then is being pulled out of their very hands. And worse than all this, we saw

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Jesus say last week, their father is the devil, the murderer, the evil one, the liar.

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And in one sense, He's saying they possess a similar position as a demon.

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And He said before all this that they are slaves to sin, remember? And they need to be set free. And He said, for whom the

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Son sets free, they are free indeed. We saw all that. Slaves to sin. Your father is the devil.

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Very, very hard things from Jesus. But verse 48, the

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Jews answered after all that in mind, the Jews answered and said to Him, Do we not rightly say that you are a

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Samaritan and have a demon? And so how do the Jews respond to all that?

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Apparently when you have no valid arguments, you just personally attack. I've seen it before.

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Do we not say rightly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? They're like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus, you are gravely wrong.

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You are the one who falls under these things. You are not of Abraham, Jesus.

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You are not of God. You actually have a demon. You are a

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Samaritan. You don't hear from God. You're not from Abraham. It's kind of like they're saying whatever you accused us of, that's actually you.

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And so why does He say a Samaritan? Well, Samaritans were what? They were not purebloods.

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They were half -breeds in a sense. They were a mixed race of Jew and Gentile. They are, in the

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Jews' eyes, illegitimate children of God. They, of course, they worship

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Yahweh. They built a temple in Samaria for Yahweh. But they're saying they don't have the covenantal blessing.

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They're outside of the covenant. They're outside of God's children. So they say that that's

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Him. And so by calling Jesus a Samaritan, they're calling into question His own

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Father and His right to be the Son of the Most High God. It's also possible, word has reached their ears, that Jesus has gone to Samaria and John 4.

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Do you remember that? Jesus went to Samaria and John 4. There was the woman at the well. And the woman at the well got offered living waters that will well up and spring up to eternal life.

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And then she went to the townspeople in Samaria where they were at. And those townspeople even turned to Christ.

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I mean, some of the earliest believers in John 4 in a Gentile, in a non -covenantal nation.

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So maybe that's why they're offended. You gave something that wasn't for them.

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So you're a Samaritan. Either way, whatever it is, they're seeking to defame Him. They're trying to dismiss His statements.

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Then they make it clear, we're not sons of the devil. You are. You have a demon.

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You have a demon. They're trying to dismiss Him. Remember, we've seen this before.

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They've said He had a demon prior. We've learned that this was trying to discredit Him, make

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Him look kind of insane. This is sometimes a way that they would say someone was insane, which they could possibly truly have a demon or not, but this would be a way to call into question someone's sanity.

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He has a demon. They surmise that if one were to say a

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Jew was not a child of Abraham and not a child of God, then they must be demon -possessed.

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If Jesus could look at us, Jewish leaders, Pharisees, Sadducees, high priests, scribes, if He could look at us and say that we're not children of God, we're not children of Abraham, this guy must have a demon.

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He must have a demon. But when someone has a demon possessing them, they lose control of their own mind often.

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At certain points, they lose sometimes even their own faculties, the power of their own voice.

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It takes over. They become, under the power of the demon, one of the devil's comrades.

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In essence, they are charging Jesus with actually speaking on behalf of the devil.

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And this is so blasphemous because Jesus has established He is true, His Word is true, and therefore, they are claiming the words of God are the words of the devil.

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The father of lies. This is a wicked false association. Their claims are honestly the prototypical childish sort of retort where Jesus says, your father is the devil, you're not children of Abraham, and they're like, no, but you are.

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That's you. It's just, no I'm not, you are. But by this time, it's not with another child.

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They're doing that with God Himself. They're saying that's not us, that's you, God. By the way, some theologians have argued that this is the exact formula that is given when

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Jews in this time wanted to declare someone a heretic. So when someone went against correct

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Jewish thinking, Orthodox Judaism back then, they would declare them openly as having a demon and being a

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Samaritan. It's possible. They're saying you're a heretic, Jesus. So go to verses 49 -50.

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Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father, and you dishonor me. I do not seek my glory, there is one who seeks and judges.

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Jesus responds in the present active indicative, which is to say

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He responds with fact. That's the fact form.

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He says, I do not have a demon. And He doesn't even need to go further than that.

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Jesus continues to give us this example that we don't always need to address every ludicrous insult that is made against us.

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Sometimes it's not worth it, brothers and sisters. When I was a younger believer, I'd go after every insult made against me.

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You've got to know when to pick your battles, when it's worth it. You have one who defends you, right?

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So clear and concise denial or refutation is sufficient. He won't address even the accusation of being a

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Samaritan, as He has already at great lengths established

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His divine identity before them. And simply His person and work towers over any accusations.

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He's been working now for over a year. Two years almost.

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And so His very example is answering their false charge. He then says, I honor my

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Father and you dishonor me. Honor here in the Greek means to make something of high value.

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To demonstrate its high worth and price. And it's interesting because He says, My Father.

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My Father creates some sort of separation. It's Jesus' Father versus their

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Father. My Father says this. So He's contrasting here His Father versus their

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Father. His honor, they dishonor. Christ has honored

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His Father. He is not a Samaritan. He is the benogones theos, as John once said.

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That is the unique, one and only Son of God. The legitimate heir and holy seed.

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He has represented and spoken well for the Father. Jesus is the epitome of what it means to honor

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God. However, they have not honored the Father that they claim is theirs.

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In dishonoring Jesus, they've actually dishonored the heavenly Father and thereby honoring their

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Father, the devil. They've shown their allegiance. They don't realize that they're stuck in the same trap that they've been in this whole time.

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By the way, dishonor here in the Greek means to make something of very low status. No respect.

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It means to bring shame to someone. One lexicon says that this word can be used idiomatically in such a way where it means one party wants the other to be laughed at.

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They want that party to be discredited. They want to cause people to wag their head and walk away.

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To cause people to turn away and consider the person in front of them a joke. And so, this is all part of Jesus' humility.

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He was made lower than the angels. He was made out to be lower than men. Despised and rejected,

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He will endure ill treatment for His Father and for His people. What a dangerous place to be, though, for these

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Jews. Making a joke of God in the flesh. I'm concerned for other people who make a joke of God in the flesh, often.

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Causing others to think He's crazy and walking away from Jesus, wagging their heads in shame. Notice, He made a contrast with the

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Jews, but then He makes a comparison and an equivalence with Himself. In other words, to dishonor

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Jesus is to dishonor the Father. One commentator says regarding this, in essence, their claim against Jesus is self -refuting.

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The moment that they raised their accusatory finger toward Jesus, they accused the very

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God that they wrongly thought they were serving and defending. It's like a mirror. It pointed back to them.

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He says, I do not seek my own glory. Jesus is not seeking His own glory when He became human.

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He became as a slave, Philippians 2 says, to die on a torture device made for common criminals.

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Doing all of this and suffering such dishonor is for the glory of His Father and for the sake of whom

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He will save. It's a selfless act. An act of love for those other than Himself.

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And now, after this, of course, He will gain infinitely more glory for what

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He's done. But that's not why He did it.

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And He says in this moment He's not seeking His own glory. He says, for there is one.

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There is one who seeks and there is one who judges. There is one who seeks others' glory and there is one who judges at the same time.

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God's approval may be inconsequential to them, but not to Jesus.

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The Father is indeed concerned for the glory and vindication of Jesus. He'll do it.

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He'll vindicate Jesus. He will prove all these false charges to be just that.

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Wrong. The Father will judge on the side of His Son while these accusers will be given a sentencing if they don't repent.

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Now what can be some application for us with this sort of thing, right? John has so much high

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Christology, high theology. What about some application for us for verses 49 and 50?

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Well, I can't help but think, do you bring honor to God? Do you and I bring honor to God?

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Or do you and I bring dishonor to Him? I think sometimes even as believers, our actions can dishonor

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Him with our words, our sins. You know, in some sense, when you and I speak of Jesus dying for sinners, rising again from the dead, people are going to walk away and they will laugh and they'll mock

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God. And that's not what I'm talking about. That's inevitable. They're going to mock God.

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You see, I have a memory of certain well -known evangelical leaders, figures who have been heralded as amazing men and women, and it's been found out that they brought a reproach upon Christ and upon His church by their adulteries and deviant behavior.

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And it causes the unbelieving world to laugh at God and say, look, they say they have

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God. They're no better than us. They do the same things that we do. I've seen even in the past couple of years, pastors who have been confronted and evidence has truly been shown that pastors have had longstanding adulteries, pastors, it's been brought out that some of them have abused even young girls from youth group and now they're adults, and they finally have the courage to come out.

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This is deplorable, disgusting stuff. Men who ought to be trusted, and they've made us be concerned about the trustworthiness of leaders in the church.

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It's horrible. Horrible things. Those things bring ruin to whole churches.

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They can cause shipwreck of the faith. You know, some of these people have said after that happened,

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I'm done, I'm gone. And look, I know the sovereignty of God. I know those who went out from us are never really of us.

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But seriously, it doesn't matter. That becomes a stumbling block to people.

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God, kill me before I do something like that. Just take me home. Kill me right before I would do something like that and ruin all of this.

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So consider that. Bringing honor. Even individually. Those are figures.

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Those are in the evangelical world. Think about losing yourself. Anger outbursts.

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Wanting divorce for any reason. You know, I've counseled a young woman not at this church who said,

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I just feel like God is telling me He wants me to divorce my husband.

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This woman from the Midwest said, So you're telling me the God who says I hate divorce wants to bless you through divorce?

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Do you have any biblical reason? I have none. I just really want to... It's like, you know, that sort of thing dishonors

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God. You know, the co -workers see that and they encourage it, right?

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They encourage it. Because they want you to be just like them. Because then a savior is impotent.

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Then the redemption that you've experienced did nothing. It doesn't affect anything, okay?

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Maybe some believers commit sexual sin. What about even, I saw a lot of believers...

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Look, I'm not saying this to shame anyone here. But I saw even during the pandemic, many Christians who were so afraid of death.

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As if they had no hope. As if there wasn't a resurrection. As if Jesus hasn't promised these things.

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And so, worrying and having anxiety like the world for something like that. Does that bring honor to God?

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You see, we are ambassadors. We are representatives. Paul says that. And so, consider these things and let it be a restraint.

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Let the Holy Spirit restrain us. And praise God that Jesus has paid for all the times we have brought any dishonor to Him.

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He's paid for that. May He aid us in such a way that we only bring

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Him glory in all that we do. That should be our aim. Verse 50 said, even

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Jesus does not seek His glory. Christ is our example. Proverbs 25 -27 says, it is not glory to seek out one's own glory.

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It is not glory to seek out one's own glory. So if you're looking for fame, if you're looking for honor for yourself, if you're looking for glory for yourself, if you're looking for the praise of men, it will be a bootleg glory.

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It will be a false glory. It certainly won't be the praise and adoration of God.

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Oh, look at my son. Look at my daughter. As he gloats. Wow. I'm glad I made

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Him. Right? Wow. He's worthy to be saved. Get Him on board.

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That's not how it is. You see, we find our highest glory in giving

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Him glory. Giving our great God glory. Go to verse 51.

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Jesus continues and draws attention to His words. Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps

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My word, he will never see death. And this is what I'm talking about. This nugget here.

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This glimpse of hope. It's amazing that during these tough confrontations with the

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Jews, Jesus knows many are listening. As much as He refutes falsehood,

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He continues to promote what is true. He came to bring salvation to lost people.

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He came to bring life for dead people. He provides hope to the very accusers standing in front of Him with this statement.

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Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.

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This is much like when Jesus said in verse 31, if you continue in My word, you are truly disciples of Mine.

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What happens to those who are truly disciples of Jesus' is they'll never see death.

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Keeps My word is like observing with sustained attention. Holding fast figuratively to Jesus' word.

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Believing His word. Cleaving to His word. Living by His word. Hoping in His word.

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And in never see death, see is used in a similar way. Here it's a play on words.

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Tereo and theoreo. They're used in a similar manner. If anyone observes

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My word, he will never undergo, experience, or observe death. And this is not a workspace thing.

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He's saying His gospel is the very hope to never see death. He's speaking with them and saying, if you listen to Me, if you hear

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Me out, if you hear what I've been telling you on how to be saved, and if you believe in that, you will never see death.

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Believe what I am saying. You will never undergo death. He did say in chapter 6, verse 63,

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My words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. Jesus said, My words are life. And even

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Peter said, To whom else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

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That's what's being said here. His words are life. Death is the punishment one will receive from the one who seeks and judges if you do not keep

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Jesus' word, he says. It's the opposite. The one keeping His word, the one who loves

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His word, who sees the solution in His word, will not receive that sort of sentencing. Jesus says something similar at the end of the

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Sermon on the Mount. He says, those who act on My words... Jesus had just preached the

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Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, Matthew 6, and Matthew 7. And the last things

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He says at the end of that sermon are, if you act on these words that I just gave, you would be likened to a man who built his house upon the rock.

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And the storms came, and the winds blew, but that house did not fall, for it was founded upon the rock.

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And then, likewise, in the other way, those who did not, He says, did not act on these words from the

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Sermon on the Mount, He says, then you will be like the one who has built his house upon sand.

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And the rains came, and the wind blew, and that house fell, and great was its fall.

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You see, His words are life. That's what He's trying to say. His words are life.

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Listen to His words. They don't know yet that what makes avoiding death possible is another.

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Actually, the Holy One standing right in front of them must take their death upon Himself. By the way, seeing death in the

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Greek means to experience death. That is to say, seeing death doesn't mean to not experience dying.

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All will experience dying. All will experience dying.

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But what He says here, this word means you will not experience death. Okay? You will not experience death.

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You'll never get familiarity. You'll never get exposure. You'll never get observation or the experience of death.

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It will forever be a foreign reality to you. Death will not be your experience.

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Heaven, resurrection, and glorification, and dwelling with your God will be your reality.

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You will die. We all die. But you will not experience death. That's the amazing thing.

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The place and process to which death has no power, the place where the grave has no sting, the stain of death can never blemish or pollute this sort of once -future reality.

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And let this verse be an example for you that even in the midst of a heated witnessing event, or when someone argues with you, even

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Jesus reminded all these people in front of Him of the hope of the Gospel. You see, if our conversations with the lost don't get to the hope of the

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Gospel, that Jesus came to forgive the worst of sinners, you and me, then the conversation is wanting, it's falling short of Christ's standard for defending the faith.

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Even in the midst of this, Jesus says, Believe in My word.

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My words are life. You'll never see death. But now we come to the

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Jews' response in verses 52 and 53. The Jews said to Him, Now we know that You have a demon.

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Abraham died and the prophets also. And You say, If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.

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Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham who died. The prophets died too.

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Whom do You make Yourself out to be? The Jews don't understand

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Jesus when He says never see death. They believe He's speaking strictly in a literal and natural manner, but Jesus considers eternal life so monumental that physically dying is rendered insignificant.

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He doesn't even mention it. If one has eternal life, dying physically is not even worth highlighting in a sense.

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And so they find Jesus' statement absurd. How can this man make this claim acting as though His Word keeps one from death?

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As though His Word is so powerful, when the prophets and Abraham are better men.

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They speak from God. They're more powerful. They're truly blessed of God. And they died.

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They tasted death. Who are You to make such an audacious claim?

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Jesus? And so it's so outrageous to them that only demonic influence is plausible.

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Now we know that you have a demon. And in a way, they are saying that Jesus' Word contradicts the

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Word of God. Because it's like as if they're saying, look, it's been recorded that Abraham died.

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He was buried in the cave of Machpelah with Sarah, his wife.

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That's all been recorded in Scripture, Jesus. Abraham and the prophets possessed the very words of God, and they died.

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The Scriptures record they're dead. You, Jesus, are contradicting the pattern we've seen in Scripture.

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How could Your Word be more powerful than those of our beloved patriarchs and prophets?

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And so, in a way, they're seeking to isolate Jesus from the patriarchs and from the prophets.

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And why would they do that? Because if you remove someone from the patriarchs and the prophets, then they're outside of Judaism.

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They're trying to remove Him from it. Those two things are some of the biggest aspects of someone's

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Jewish identity. So whom do you make yourself out to be? They say.

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This harkens back to chapter 5, verse 18, where it said that they wanted to kill Him for making

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Himself out to be equal with God. And not only that, remember in John 4, the

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Samaritans said Jacob was their father. The Samaritans said Jacob was their father.

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Now the Jews say Abraham is their father. And Jesus demonstrated

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Himself, if you remember in John 4, to be far greater than Jacob in His actions and in His words.

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And now He's even showing that He's greater than the patriarch Abraham. It doesn't matter what patriarch or prophet it is.

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Jesus is preeminent. He is better. But the amazing thing is, He's not even exalting

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Himself. He's not even trying to make Himself greater in this moment, even though He is.

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On the contrary, He will be submissive to the Father and humble to the point of death at the hands of mere men.

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In fact, He confirms this. Go to verse 54. Jesus answered,

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If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. If I glorify

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Myself, My glory is nothing. It is My Father who glorifies

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Me. Of whom you say, He is our God. This whole section is filled with so much irony.

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They are asking the I Am, the God who made everything, if He thinks He's greater than Abraham and the prophets.

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He has every right. I'm telling you, He has every right to assert His glory and authority.

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But He doesn't. He sticks to the mission He, His Father, and the Holy Spirit have planned for all eternity.

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Jesus won't say He's greater than Abraham or the prophets in a boastful or self -aggrandizing way.

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He didn't come to make much of Himself. But He came to make nothing of Himself.

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To die like a common criminal. And He desires to glorify

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His Father. And for this, the Father glorifies Him. And anything that people call glory that does not involve the glory of God or the glory that God gives is, as Jesus says, nothing.

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It's just air. If it doesn't involve the glory of God, then it's just nothing.

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It's not real glory. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. Jesus needs no man to endorse

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Him. The Father will. Jesus needs no man to make

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Him known. The Father, it says, will draw a people to Him. Jesus doesn't need to sell

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Himself. The Father will pour out the Spirit and will capture the hearts of men and women.

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It will be the divine initiative. And so Abraham and the prophets are not glorified like how

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Christ will be. He is from God. He was sent by God.

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He is of God in a way that they never were or never will be. So verse 55,

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And you have not come to know Him, but I know Him. And if I say that I do not know

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Him, I will be a liar like you. But I do know Him and keep His Word. Just as Jesus called out the devil for being the father of lies, a liar from the beginning,

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He tells the Jews by calling God their Father and saying they know Him, makes them to be liars.

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They don't really know Him. They don't really know Him at all. Jesus' Father, whom they say

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He is our God, they have not come to know Him. The God for whom they got circumcised.

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The God for whom they go to every feast and festival. The God for whom they make pilgrimage.

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The God for whom they tithe and make loud prayers and go to synagogue, offer sacrifices, go to temple.

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The God for whom they proselytize for. The God for whom they make extra laws from the traditions of men.

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The God for whom they will kill Jesus believing they are doing the Lord a favor. This God, the only

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God, they don't know Him. They do all that and they don't know Him. This is much like Hosea 4 .1

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in which the land is starved of the knowledge of God. Hosea says,

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Listen to the word of the Lord, O sons of Israel, for the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land because there is no faithfulness, there is no kindness, and there is no knowledge of God in the land.

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No knowledge. Jesus shows knowing God and keeping

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His word are on the same level. In John's Gospel, we've seen that true knowledge necessitates true obedience and they've come up wanting.

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They have no knowledge. They've had no obedience. But Jesus does know

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God. He came from Him and just as they go around saying all that they are and all that they do is for God, inferring they know

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Him and He is their Father, they're faking. They're pretending. They're lying.

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Jesus will not go around saying He doesn't know God. So they go around saying they know

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God and they do stuff for God. And Jesus is like, I'm not like you. I'm not going to do something that's not true.

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I'm going to go around and say I am from God because that's true. I'm not going to be a liar like you.

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And so Jesus does indeed know His Father and keeps His word. And God must make us do the same if we are to be saved.

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He must make us know Him and observe His word. By the way, think about that statement.

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Think about He knows the Father. If we could ask

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Jesus what all He means by that, I'm certain the answer would be mind -blowing.

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Jesus, what do you mean when you say you know the Father? And we would get the most amazing, incredible answer we would ever see and hear.

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He comes from the realms they have never seen. He comes from the invisible God that they have never truly known.

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He knows the Father uniquely. He has triune relationship and closeness and intimacy with the

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Father. And think about the fact that they together inscribed a circle on the face of the deep that commanded the waves to halt and to go no further upon the land.

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And in great power, when God said, let there be light, it was a promise of not only life immediately, but the life and light that Jesus would be in the future thousands of years later.

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And you consider the love that they experienced between one another. You can't describe most of it in natural terms because the way

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Jesus knows it is supernatural, not natural. And so when

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Jesus says, I know Him, that statement has wrapped up in it the most amazing experience and reality.

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That little statement is trying to bottle up a blazing supernova.

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It's trying to grasp lightning with your hands. Take what you can imagine, church, and go infinitely beyond it.

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That's a divine relationship between the Father and the Son. He knows Him. He knows

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Him in a way that is tremendous. Go to verse 56.

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We are now moving towards the climax of this scene. Your father

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Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and he was glad.

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It's almost like he's saying, this father Abraham you keep claiming as your own, he rejoiced to see my day.

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Jesus, in a sense, and in every sense, honestly, has more claim to the father

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Abraham than they do. I'll tell you there are several thoughts on what

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Jesus is saying here. It calls into question, what does he mean by my day?

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Abraham saw my day, he's seen my day, and he rejoiced and he was glad.

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What does he mean by that? And what aspect did Abraham rejoice at?

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When did he rejoice? What is Jesus talking about here? Now, some speculate, based on rabbinic tradition, that God disclosed to Abraham the secrets of the messianic age to come, and he rejoiced.

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Some say Abraham was already in paradise at this time, and could see Jesus in his earthly ministry.

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Some say it was the rejoicing Abraham had when God said he would provide a lamb for the burnt offering, in place of Isaac.

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You remember when God asked him to take his son Isaac to offer him on the Mount Moriah?

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And he went by faith, and at the last moment, God said I would provide a lamb, and Abraham rejoiced, looking ahead to a different kind of lamb.

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Was that it? Was it when Abraham saw the pre -incarnate

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Christ, or the type of Christ, known as Melchizedek, the priest -king of Salem? Was it when the

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Lord Yahweh appeared to Abraham with the angelic messengers by the oaks of Mamre?

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There's all these possibilities. In addition to that, Carson said certainly there was a

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Jewish tradition, based partly on Genesis 17, 17, and partly on Genesis 21, 6, and reflected in Jubilees 16, 16 -29.

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That's a Jewish reference. And elsewhere, that Abraham rejoiced at the birth of his son Isaac.

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If this birth is understood as the onset of the promise that through Abraham, all the nations of the earth would be blessed, then

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Abraham's laughter and joy is connected with his perception that the promised blessings still to come were in process of realization in the birth of his son.

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The point is, Jesus is at least referring to in some capacity that Abraham looked ahead for the

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Messiah. He looked forward to the Messiah. And the Jews are offended not because Jesus said,

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Abraham rejoiced to see the messianic age. Jesus didn't say that.

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The reason the Jews are offended is because he said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day.

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So he's identifying himself with this Messiah. That's what angers them.

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It seems to me that my day would have to be now in John.

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That's what I would think. The day of the Lord. The arrival of God.

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The visitation. The day of visitation. The incarnation. I'm sure if Abraham met the pre -incarnate

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Christ, he rejoiced. But he says, he rejoiced to see my day in such a way where it seems like somehow he rejoiced for the arrival of the

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Messiah. Jesus being there on the scene at that point. God in the flesh.

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Abraham did not believe he was at the fulfillment or the pinnacle of God's salvation purposes.

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He understood that. He knew there was something greater coming. He was not at the pinnacle of it.

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He was not at the climax. God was going to do something even more magnificent than the promises and the covenant that he gave him then.

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The author of Hebrews mentions Abraham in this way too. Hebrews 11 .13 says, regarding Abraham, all these died in faith without receiving the promises.

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It says this, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance and having confessed that they were strangers in exile on earth, they had faith in the future.

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It was Jesus that everyone looked ahead to. And likewise, it's now

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Jesus we look back to at his first coming. It's Jesus we look at now in the

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Spirit. It's Jesus who we look to who's going to come in his second coming. It's Jesus who is our prize, who we get to look at and behold for all eternity.

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Therefore, from eternity or into eternity, it's Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

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It doesn't matter what age you've lived in, what part of history you're from, it all centers around Jesus Christ, the

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Messiah, the Son of God. So now go to verse 57. The Jew said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen

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Abraham? And believe it or not, it's hard to understand.

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This would have been kind of a mocking rebuke to Jesus. They're not saying that he was close to 50 years old.

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Some people take this. Some early church fathers have even looked like, oh, he's close to 50 years old, even though it says otherwise in other places of the

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Gospels. This was a way that Jews would speak with round numbers. You're not even close to 50 years old.

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And you're not even older than 50 years old. How would you have seen Abraham? The point is,

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Abraham was born in 2166 B .C. How has

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Jesus seen Abraham if they are now in 28 A .D.? 2166 to 28

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A .D. How have you seen Abraham? And now we come to it.

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The climax. Verse 58. If Jesus simply wanted to say he existed before Abraham, he could have said, before Abraham was,

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I was. But he didn't say that. And they likely would have kept calling him crazy, no doubt.

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You're insane. You have a demon. You think you're older than Abraham. You think you existed before him.

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But there's a reason why they want to kill him after this. And with Jesus' authoritative and powerful

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Scripture -creating voice, he says, truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was,

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I am. Ego eimi. Jesus gives the divine name of God.

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From all throughout the Old Testament, from Exodus 3, the God who called himself the

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I Am. He doesn't just say he existed before Abraham.

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He says he is the one who made Abraham exist in that statement. And they recognize a claim to deity.

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They recognize his claim to being God. This is as clear as day. Isaiah 41 .4

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Who has performed and accomplished it, calling forth generations from their beginning, I, the

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Lord, am the first and the last. I am He. Isaiah 43 .13

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Even from eternity, I am. Jesus is the one who has been from eternity and gives being and life to all creatures.

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He is the one. By the way, the focal point of this I Am statement is the rejoice to see my day claim.

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And over and over again in the Old Testament, the Lord Yahweh calls Himself the Redeemer. Even in Isaiah alone,

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Redeemer is mentioned 25 times. Isaiah 59 .20

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says, A Redeemer will come to Zion and will come to those who turn from transgression, declares the

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Lord. And a Redeemer is coming. A Redeemer is coming, declares the

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Lord. Abraham believed God would send a Redeemer. And he looked forward to when

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God would come down again as He did when He visited at Isaac's announcement, which was possibly more about the

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Holy Seed who was to come than the immediate seed that was given. The one through whom all the nations would be blessed has finally arrived, the great

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I Am. And by making a self -reference of I Am, Jesus is saying

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He is all at the same time the one that Abraham hoped for and the one who's far superior than Abraham himself.

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The one whom the Jews mocked is less than 50 years old. He's actually ageless.

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He's eternal in His being. You're not even 50 years old. Ageless.

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The one who gave the concept of time and years to humanity is in front of them.

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Jesus knew I Am would be enough for them to understand His claim to a divine identity, but He could have easily finished it.

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What do I mean by that? I think Jesus could have easily said before Abraham was,

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I Am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

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He could have said that as well. Verse 59, Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid

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Himself and went out of the temple. So just as at the

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Feast of Booths, when there was the discourses on the water libation ceremony, when there was the discourse on the light of the world and those great menorahs and candle fixtures that lit up the whole city, in chapter 8 verse 20, just verses before this, they wanted to seize

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Him and kill Him. You remember that? Now once again, after this long discourse in John 8, the

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Jews want to seize Him and kill Him. And what may be of some significance,

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I'm not sure, is His departing from the temple. Do you notice that?

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John specifically mentions He left the temple. Kind of like when

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God exited the temple from the east and departed His glory away from the covenant breakers during the time of the exile in Ezekiel.

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Jesus left. They didn't want to kill Him because He said

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He was really, really, really old. They believed Jesus is guilty of a capital crime.

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Remember, John chapter 5, they were upset. They said, He is making Himself out to be like God, and therefore they wanted to kill

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Him. That's what's happening. And so this goes back to Leviticus 24 -16.

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Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the alien as well as the native.

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When they blaspheme the name, they shall be put to death. And so this is a serious thing.

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The name of the Lord has been named and this man, the

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God -man, Jesus, said it was Him. We've actually looked at all the times in the

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Bible where men have made themselves out to be God or stolen His glory.

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If you remember, Nebuchadnezzar was made into a beast. The king of Tyre was destroyed.

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If you remember in the book of Acts, Herod stole the glory of God and an angel struck him and worms came out of him and killed him.

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Men who say that they are God or steal God's glory are killed.

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They're either struck by God or in this sense, the law says they are to be killed. But this is no mere man.

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This is no mere man. By the way, a stoning can only occur after a judicial proceeding has been made and a case has been won.

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And so what they wanted to do, what these Jews wanted to do in the moment was lawless crowd violence, mob violence.

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Just picking up stones to kill Jesus. Jesus is saying things that only

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God ought to say, but they should be rejoicing rather than outraged.

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He has all the right to speak like this. He has all the right. And to do otherwise, to speak any other way, would be then for Jesus to lie.

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But they want to stone Him. Jesus does

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His incredible evading tactics, which He always does. He escapes their grips and He leaves the temple.

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I can't wait to ask Him about that. How did you always, was it supernatural? Or were you really good at getting away?

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Or how did that work? I'm eager to ask Him about that. That will be lower on the list, of course. It's amazing.

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St. Augustine says this regarding this verse, As Jesus flees from the stones, woe to those from whose heart of stone

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God flees from. As Jesus flees from the stones, woe to those from whose heart of stone

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God flees. I think even back to Matthew 3, when

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John the Baptist was speaking to the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and he says that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones.

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And what I think is interesting there, if we put those together, that it's as if these

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Jews are picking up stones that are more like children of Abraham than they ever were.

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So let's wrap this up. We've seen one of the main points of this final scene in John 8, is that Jesus is the

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Divine Messiah, that people of faith, of all history have been looking for and needed.

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He is the One. That's John 8. He won't stop saying who

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He is. He hasn't. He won't. You and I don't stop saying who the

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Savior is. Do you hear that? He has not stopped saying who He is. You and I should not stop saying who the

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Savior is. Say who He is. With Scripture calling this life a vapor, a passing shadow, we are moments away from eternity, many very, very close.

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And so if you are in Christ, He has paid your penalty in full. You are free indeed. But don't look back later with regret.

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It's almost as if people who say I can look back with no regret.

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I don't believe that. I think we all have regrets. You know, I think we can look back before we were saved.

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I regret that I did any of that. Even though I was a slave to sin, there's things that I look back even as a believer that I regret, that I wish

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I was mature with and didn't do. I think that's a misstatement.

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Oh, I have no regrets. But don't look back. Don't shrink back from declaring the truth to a dying generation.

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Everyone is drowning, and you and I have the keys to the door of the ark. What I see

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Jesus doing time and time again in the Gospel according to John is giving people truth without any regard of His own reputation,

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His own name, His own comfort, and even His own life. They called

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Him a Samaritan. They said He had a demon. They've called Him crazy. And here, they tried to stone

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Him to death. Whatever the cost, He spoke what was right and what was true every single time.

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He says, If you confess Me before men, I'll confess you before My Father in Heaven.

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Don't worry about the earthly stuff that you can lose. It's for moth and rust that destroy.

01:00:11

On Wednesday, we actually went over Acts 21, and we saw the Apostle Paul heading to Jerusalem.

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It says that he was expecting chains. He was expecting imprisonment. He was expecting to be bound.

01:00:25

And he knew behind all that, eventually all that would lead to death. And he saw

01:00:32

God's hand in it. And despite the pleas of many loving saints, he went on to face his fate that God put before him in Jerusalem.

01:00:47

And providentially, that death march, that slow death march of Paul, would take him before governors, kings, and even

01:00:59

Caesar to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom. He didn't stop.

01:01:05

Paul didn't stop. He didn't shut his mouth. If anything, he opened it more.

01:01:14

The end was coming. The finish line was in sight. His prize was soon to be in his grasp.

01:01:21

And so we are to follow that example. Follow the example of Christ.

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Follow, therefore, the example of Paul. Tell the world, Jesus is

01:01:33

I Am. And that He can keep people from seeing death.

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Just tell them. You don't have to know almost any theology for that.

01:01:47

Because you know what's been done inside of you. You tell people there's a Savior and He's come to set men and women free.

01:01:57

And you can be truly free. You cannot see death.

01:02:05

He will make you see life. Life eternal. He can make you see the Kingdom.

01:02:11

He can make you see Him and be with Him forever. And honestly, as morbid as it sounds, it's reassuring to me that the worst that men can do in this life is take my life and just usher me into that reality sooner.

01:02:33

That's the hope that we have. That's the expectation that we ought to have.

01:02:39

It doesn't matter what it's going to cost you. Imagine saying, well,

01:02:47

I didn't tell him because I was uncomfortable. Imagine saying,

01:02:55

I didn't tell her because I'll see her again. And it's awkward.

01:03:02

Imagine saying those things. Do what Jesus did.

01:03:08

Tell the truth. Don't worry about it. Imagine the worst they can do is kill you. That's the worst they can do.

01:03:18

Let's pray. Lord, thank

01:03:23

You for the message today. Thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the treasure that Your Word is.

01:03:31

Your Word is life. Your Word is spirit. Your Word is the very solution to a sin problem, sin nature, given by the

01:03:41

Holy Spirit, whom the Holy Spirit then stores

01:03:47

Your Word in our hearts and makes us to know it. It's living, sharper than any two -edged sword.

01:03:58

It pierces down to the truth. We thank You for it, Lord. We thank

01:04:05

You that it says that You keep Your Father's Word. Because we're not able to observe and obey it perfectly, but You did.

01:04:16

And it's because of Your obedience, obedience to the point of death on a cross, that we have the most glorious expectation to dwell with You forever.

01:04:28

This life is so short compared to the glory that's ahead.

01:04:35

Lord, help us to have faith in that. Lord, help us to remember that. Help us,

01:04:42

Lord, to be heavenly minded. And let that heavenly mindedness impact how we live on earth.

01:04:51

That we have a real hope. That we have nothing to fear, because Jesus took all of our fears.

01:05:02

So Lord, thank You for this. Thank You that we are now

01:05:07

Your children. Thank You, Lord Jesus, that You came to earth.

01:05:15

That You made a way. That You are the solution. You are the way, the truth, and the life.

01:05:24

You're the gate. You're the doorway. We thank You for allowing us to go through.