The Heavenly Scholar (Part 2)

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And we're looking at the Heavenly Scholar, the Heavenly Scholar. This will be part two.

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There just may be four parts out of this. There's a lot in this wonderful chapter we're looking at. So please open your

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Bibles with me to the Gospel of John chapter 7. As you turn there, I'd like to say that this chapter can be outlined as the following, and this is per Warren Wiersbe.

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I thought this is summarized very well. First section, you can divide it up.

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Disbelief. Disbelief in the first section. The second section, debate.

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And in the third section, division. So you have disbelief, debate, division.

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We are at present at the midpoint of the festival, the festival of the tabernacles or the booths.

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We are right in the middle of a debate. We are right in the middle of a debate as we look at chapter 7, as we've been looking into this.

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And really, as we go further along, this debate really begins, was all about what happened in John chapter 5 as Jesus healed a man, a lame man, in Bethesda at the pool on the

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Sabbath. And you will see that this debate becomes heated up.

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But really, the main debate is not only what Jesus did, performing the miracle of healing the man at Bethesda.

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The question is, who is this Jesus Christ? Who is He? And can

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I say this this morning by saying and beginning with that, that no doubt that is the most important question ever to be asked.

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Who is this Jesus Christ? And how we answer that question will have eternal, serious, eternal consequences.

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And I pray, as one minister said, if we're wrong on who

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Jesus Christ is, we're wrong about everything else in the entire

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Bible. How true that is. So here we are at midpoint in the festival, the tabernacle.

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Jesus goes into the temple courts, the outer court, and begins to teach. He begins to teach the people, and the people recognize the authoritative nature of His teaching.

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Despite the fact that He did not have formal rabbinic training, He did not have education as a rabbi would have, and He just absolutely floors them with His incredible supernatural teaching.

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His teaching was authoritative. And after all, this is God in the flesh. But as you will see,

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He never draws attention to Himself. He is here to do the glory and the will of God for the glory of God.

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His teaching was authoritative because it comes from God the Father. And the key to understanding

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His teaching is actually obedience to God. And there's no way that we can know or do the will of God unless we come through Jesus Christ.

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So in other words, it's Jesus Christ or hell. God's will is

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God's desire. So to do God's will, to know God's will, to do

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God's will, we must all come through Jesus Christ. Everybody else, it seems like, wants to go some other way.

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There's a way that seems right unto man, but the end thereof is death. The only way, and as Jesus told

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Philip, Philip asked him the question, because Jesus was speaking in John 14,

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I'm going to go away, prepare a mansion, many dwelling places for you. And if I go away,

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I will come again. And Philip says, how can we know the way? Jesus says,

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I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the

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Father but through me. So that pretty much summarizes that Jesus came not to seek glory for himself.

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And so it is with ministers today. If ministers are seeking glory for themselves, they are not true ministers of God.

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A minister is a servant of God, and he is to do God's will God's way, and he is to glorify

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God. And by the way, you can mark this down. If the glory is not focused on who

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Jesus Christ is, that Christ is not being glorified, there is no Holy Spirit there. I don't care what kind of mystical experiences are happening.

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If there is, as J .C. Rouse says, no holy living, there's no Holy Spirit. But there must be also the

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Spirit of the living God to glorify Jesus Christ. So Christ came not to seek his own glory for himself, but to give glory to God the

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Father. And his opponents revealed their lack of obedience to the law by their desire to kill him.

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They were hostile toward him, mainly because of their unbelief and their hard hearts.

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And this is why the Scriptures time and time again warns us of the hardness of hearts.

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Proverbs says, guard your hearts. Out of it are the issues of life.

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It's very serious, isn't it? And we must do this by the help of the

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Spirit of God. Now, in saying that, let me read to you the text of the passage today, and let's see what the

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Holy Scriptures reveal to us, because it's not anything I say, actually. It's what the Scripture says.

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This is why we come here, right? To hear the Word of God. Not just to hear some preacher give a story or something, but we want to hear what

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God has to say, don't you? I want to hear God. And as one preacher said, if you really want to hear

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God speak, read the Bible out loud. That's the truth. So I'm going to read the

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Bible out loud here to you as we talk about this wonderful heavenly scholar, beginning with verse 10.

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Verse 10 to verse 24. Hear the word of the living God. But when his brothers had gone up, then they also went up to the feast, not openly, but as they were in secret, then the

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Jews sought him at the feast and said, where is he? And there was much complaining among the people concerning him, and some said, he is good.

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Others said, no, on the contrary, he deceives the people. However, no one spoke openly of him for the fear of the

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Jews. Now about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and talked, and the

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Jews marveled, saying, how does this man know letters, having never studied? Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine is not mine, but his who sent me.

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If anyone wills to do his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak of my own authority.

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He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

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Did not Moses give you the law? Listen to this rebuke. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law?

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Why do you seek to kill me? Verse 20, the people answered and said, you have a demon, who is seeking to kill you?

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Jesus answered and said to them, I did one work, speaking of the healing of Bethesda, and you all marvel.

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Moses therefore gave you circumcision, not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers.

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And you circumcised a man on the Sabbath, and if a man receives circumcision on the

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Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the

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Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.

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Please bow with me as we seek our Lord's face and blessing within this hour of worship. Our Father and our great

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God, Oh, how we thank you this morning, Lord, for your grace, mercy, and love toward us sinners.

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Oh God, all the mercy in Jesus Christ, given upon the cross,

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His death, His life, His death, His burial, His resurrection.

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It's so glorious. It's so glorious. And Lord, we need the true teacher to teach us this morning, the spirit of truth.

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So Father, we would pray that you would do a work within our hearts this morning. Lord, we're here not just to hear information about the

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Bible. Lord, we're here to be transformed by the Bible, by the truth. So Lord, I pray that you would sanctify the speaker, sanctify the listeners, sanctify all of us,

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Lord. Set us apart. Help us, oh God, as we come to you seeking your guidance and direction, your will, to do your will for your glory.

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And give us, Lord, understanding in your word that we need, again, your Holy Spirit, the teacher, the spirit of truth, spirit of wisdom, spirit of holiness to help us to see your truth and wisdom in these verses before us.

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Lord, but most of all, our greatest need is to see you. That's our greatest need.

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So open, I pray, God, the eyes of our heart. Remove the scales,

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I pray, Lord, that we may see the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the one that is most lovely, the one that is most radiant, the one that is most glorious and most holy.

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Lord, help us to receive. Seek to apply your word to our lives more and to be more like our

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Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we would ask this, and for your honor and glory in Jesus' name, amen.

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One of the most glorious things that happens throughout the Gospels, that happened throughout Jesus' life, is no doubt is the revealing of who

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Jesus is. Who Jesus is. It makes me think about a great text, as the confession of the church, as Peter confesses

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Jesus is the Christ in Matthew 16, when Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, as He asked, basically that was a domain, it was a hell hole, as He asked

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His disciples saying, who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they basically answered

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His question, who does men say that He is? And they said, well, some say

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John the Baptist, some say Elijah, others say Jeremiah, one of the prophets.

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He said to them, but who do you say that I am? It gets very personal, doesn't it? He gets right to the point,

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He draws them in, who does men say that I am? Then, who do you say that I am? You, personally.

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Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the

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Son of the living God. There is the revelation right there. There is the confession of the church, folks.

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Jesus answered and said to them, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my

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Father who is in heaven. It didn't come from His intellect, it did not come from His...

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Actually, Peter was an uneducated, unlearned fisherman.

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And yet, the Father revealed to Peter who Jesus really is.

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Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Do we really know what that means?

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Who Jesus is? And we see this time and time again as it's unpacked in the

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Gospels, as things progress in Jesus' ministry, which spans over three years, actually three years.

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And the contrast and tension between Jesus and the Jewish leaders, if you notice, increases more and more and more as He goes to the cross, as He makes

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His path, His progress, sets His face like a flint to Mount Calvary, and the

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Jewish leaders becomes much more hostile as He approaches His mission to fulfill it, the

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Father's will. And as they become more hostile, every miracle, teaching that Jesus did draws a more clear line between those who believe

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Him and those who do not. He reveals more of who He is, culminating when

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He breathes His last breath on the cross of Calvary. Even a

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Roman soldier, after Jesus died, looks upon His lifeless body upon the cross and says, truly, this was the

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Son of God. That's an act of God, folks, an act of a sovereign

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God. And as you know, before Jesus died, He was nailed on the cross between two thieves, one rejects

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Him, one receives Him. Again, an act of God.

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Well, in our passage today, there certainly is an increase in the dividing line,

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I would say, of what Jesus was drawing.

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Jesus causes quite a stir right in the middle of this festival, this festival of the tabernacles, the feast of the tabernacles.

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Though, of course, not any wrong in Jesus, but all the wrong is within the hearts of those who oppose

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Him, those who reject Him as the anointed King of Israel.

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He begins to show Himself more and more as you look into the Gospel record. In His own way and time, according to the will of the

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Father that sent Him. God says, we looked at, we saw God's timetable, but God's timetable is

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God's will. And God is sovereignly in control of everything that His Son is doing. His Son never made a mistake.

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Not one. Perfectly living out and fulfilled the law.

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Actually, as He's there at the feast of tabernacles, He's fulfilling the law.

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He fulfills it. Indeed, the passage before us really comes to us and asks the sobering question, who is this

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Jesus Christ? That's the question. Who is

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Jesus Christ? Every person must grapple with that simple, yet profound question. I want you to think about this for a second.

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There's been billions of people that's been born and will die, and that has died, that's in the dirt, been cremated or buried in the earth, and every single soul that ever lived will answer before Jesus Christ.

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Staggering, isn't it? But that's exactly what is going to happen.

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If you look at, this is exactly what Jesus meant when He was praying to the Father in John 17.

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As He begins to pray to the Father, Jesus spoke these words and lifted up His eyes to heaven and said,

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Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son that Your Son also may glorify You.

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And then He says in verse 2, as You have given Him authority over all flesh.

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You hear that? Jesus has been given by the

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Father authority over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given

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Him. That those many as the Father would choose to give to those who would have the privilege, the power to become sons of God.

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The Apostle Paul in Acts 17 speaks of this great truth at the end of his sermon on Mars Hill when he says this.

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He says, truly these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent because He has appointed a day on which

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He will judge the world. There it is. He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom

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He has ordained. And He has given assurance to all by raising

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Him from the dead. That's what guarantees the judgment is His resurrection. How was the response?

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The response back then is the response like it is today. Some reject, some receive it.

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Listen to this, verse 32, And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said,

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We will hear you again on this matter. So Paul departed among them. However, some men joined and believed.

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Well, you see, it's still the same today. You've got those that disbelieve and mock, and then you've got some that says,

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You know, I'll listen to you again on this matter. Well, here you have, this is the greatest question.

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Who is Jesus Christ? The most profound question. He is the

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Lord of glory. He is the King of kings. He is the Lord of lords.

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Jesus Christ is the Lord of time, and He is the Lord over history. He is Lord over all.

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He is Savior. He is Lord over the nations, and will be

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Lord over the nations, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the

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Father. Even that act of worship will be to the glory of God. That means, not only in heaven, those that adore

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Him and love Him, and have been graced to spend eternity with Him, in the eternal bliss of heaven, but all those billions in hell, will even worship and fall before Jesus Christ, and confess

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Him as Lord, and still spend eternity in hell.

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It's a powerful thing. That every creature, every person that ever lived, will bow the knee before Jesus Christ, and their tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is

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Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Now, as much as man would like to, modern man, even of every tribe and nation, would like to escape this, he cannot.

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You cannot today. There's two inescapable realities that will happen.

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You and I will die. We will die. How are we going to die? Only God knows.

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We don't know. It never comes with an invitation, does it? It never sends an invitation, saying, you're going to die tonight.

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That's why the scripture says, today's the day of salvation. Come to Christ and repent, and believe the gospel, because we're not guaranteed tomorrow.

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And Satan whispers in people's ears, hell, you've got all the time in the world, just go ahead and procrastinate, put it off.

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But that's not the way the scripture speaks. Today's the day of salvation.

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Harden not your hearts. So, we will all die. It is appointed for once man to die, and after this, the judgment.

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Those two things. Inescapable. You will die, I will die.

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And then next will be a judgment. A lot of people,

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I've talked to so many people about the gospel, and I'm sure you have as well. There's so many people that want to somehow excuse and put this away, and said there's no judgment, death is no big deal.

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Even they talk of death as something to be mocked at. You ever see it during Halloween times, that you see these skeletons, and it's almost like a laughing matter.

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Folks, you know it's not a laughing matter, is it? Every time I see a skeleton, I say that's nothing to laugh at. I almost want to go to that person that hangs a false skeleton on the backside of a

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Jeep or something, and stop them and say, hey, friend, do you realize this skeleton you think is such a joke?

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You realize that skeleton, you've got a skeleton, you're going to be dirt, you're going to go to the dirt, and what then?

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I'd rather take my chances with Jesus Christ any day. I'd rather put my all in Jesus Christ, because if you put your all in the flesh, in the world, in the devil, in all that this world, this passing world gives, it's all going to pass away and go to,

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I mean, it's going to pass away anyway, and the kingdom of Christ is going to come. Who is this

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Jesus? Let that ring. Let that ring in your head.

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Who is Jesus? Cannot escape the fact every person who's ever lived will face

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Jesus Christ at the judgment. This is so serious. Folks, I tremble as I speak this to you because I'm going to be held accountable by what

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I'm saying, and what I say has to have bearing, and that's why I must preach the word to you. I am bound by the word of God, the will of God, to tell you what

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God says. Jesus Christ will judge the living and the dead, every man, every woman, every child.

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God the Father has appointed Christ His Son to be the judge over all mankind, and still today the gospel has gone forth and continues to go forth in power and to all the world.

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Every person is confronted with the person of Jesus Christ and must answer rightly to that sobering question,

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Who is Jesus Christ? Who is He? Well, our text today reveals to us at least three things that Jesus is for us.

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I'm going to only touch on the first. There's no way I'm going to get all three today, but we're going to look at first is that we will see

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Him, first of all, He is our prophet. He is our prophet. Second, we will see

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Him as our perfect law keeper. And third, we will see

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Him as our great physician. Prophet, perfect law keeper, and great physician.

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Let's look at just the first point today. Jesus is our prophet.

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Jesus is our prophet. It's interesting seeing that where all the people at the feast are murmuring and complaining, verse 10 through 13, but when

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His brothers had gone up, He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.

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He does exactly opposite of what His brothers were tempting Him to do. We looked at that.

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Then the Jews sought Him at the feast and said, where is He? When it speaks of that, it's actually their motive was to find

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Him, to kill Him. But it wasn't in God's timetable for that to happen yet.

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Verse 12, and there was much complaining or murmuring among the people concerning Him. Some said

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He is good. Notice the different views of who Christ is. Oh, He's good. How many times have we heard today among the cults?

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He's a good man. Others said no, on the contrary, He deceives the people.

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He's a deceiver. However, no one spoke openly of Him for the fear of the

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Jews. It's very clear that the presence of the

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Lord was creating quite a stir and a controversy among the people.

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More and more in the miracles which He performed were compelling men to make up their minds as to who He really was.

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There was an undercurrent of conversation here at the feast of the tabernacles of whether He was genuine or was

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He a false prophet. I mean, there was so much talk. He was the talk of the town. He was the talk of that entire place.

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Is He genuine? Is He a false prophet? Notice what He said in verse 12. There was much complaining.

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Complaining? Murmuring? He's good? No, on the contrary,

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He deceives the people. MacArthur notes right here. The sceptrum ranged from superficial acceptance,

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He is good, to cynical rejection. He deceives the people. End quote.

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And the Jewish Talmud reveals that the latter view of deception became the predominant opinion of many of the

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Jews in that time period and that is absolutely what happens. They hate

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Jesus more and more and eventually that hatred swells up and becomes so hostile toward Him it nails them to a cross.

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Not the way the people imagined a Messiah to come to take over the rule of the

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Roman Empire in that day and to usurp them and to bring the kingdom of God in.

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But it didn't come that way. It came by Christ in a humble way being nailed to a cross in humiliation.

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It was staggering. No one ever would have thought this. Nobody. The prophets foretold it but people really didn't understand it.

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And when Jesus comes and then His ministry proves that okay,

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He's doing miracles and He's the Messiah and all these miracles point to to confirm who

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He really is but to nail the Messiah on a cross a crucified

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Messiah a crucified King and I love the story of the thief on the cross it was mentioned today

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I believe from Mikey about the conversion that he had

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J .C. Rowell says the thief on the cross was Christ's greatest trophy and the sovereign power of God that brought that man into salvation was absolutely amazing.

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And Warren Wiersbe said how did he know? How did he know? How did this thief on the cross as one was cursing him cursing

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Christ and that one thief says don't you fear God he speaks to the other one while they're all three dying and rebukes the other thief and says don't you fear

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God because the other one was mocking him and then of course you know the story that thief comes to repentance true genuine repentance by a crucified

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Messiah that man did not have that kind of faith within himself he read the tract that they inscribed and the

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Jews got mad about it this is Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews and it was written in different languages and everything and the

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Jew says take that down we don't like that and Pilate says what is written is written it was ordained of God and God knew that before Pilate knew it for that one man that one soul to come to Jesus Christ and be converted and he read that Jesus was a king and he realized that he was a sinner and he confesses that remember me

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Lord he says Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom he's a king and here he was dying on the cross and he throws all his weight and faith in that one crucified

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Savior that's what we got to do folks to come to Jesus Christ we have to throw all of our weight and trust in this one great person and he must mean everything to us more than life more than your family more than your children oh we're to love our children we're to love our family yes but we're to love

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God far more than that with a greater love and only the kind of love that God can give well here we see notice the different views about Christ and John in comparison to John 7 here if you go to John chapter 9 flip over a couple chapters notice what is said about Jesus here therefore some of the

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Pharisees said this is another healing that takes place and by the way

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Jesus once again heals on the Sabbath did you know Jesus does this on purpose because it shows mercy and grace and love which is much more important than their traditions and then much more important than their belief of circumcision and their do's and don'ts and their rules and performances and Jesus shows grace you see that and therefore some of the

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Pharisees said this man speaking of Christ is not from God because he does not keep the

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Sabbath others said how can a man who is a sinner do such signs and there was a division among them and they said to the blind man again what do you say about him because he opened your eyes and he said he's a prophet he didn't know anything about Jesus all he could say he's a prophet but the

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Jews did not believe concerning him that he had been blind and received a sight until they called the parents of him who had received a sight and of course they started asking questions to the parents and eventually they excommunicated them from the synagogue you see the different views that's laid out before us there go to John 10 you see it once again here as you progress in the gospel of John look at verse 19 notice what they said again there's a division therefore there was a division again among the

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Jews because of these sayings and many of them said what sayings well he basically says therefore my father in verse 17 and 18 therefore my father loves me because I laid down my life that I may take it again no one takes it from me but I lay it down to myself and I had the power to lay it down and I had the power to take it again this command

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I have received from my father Jesus did everything according to the command and the will of God the father and there was a division about this among the

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Jews because of these sayings and many of them said listen to what they said he has a demon he is mad you know what they were saying basically he's insane he's insane why do you listen to him and others said these are not the words of one who has a demon can a demon open the eyes of the blind you see the different views and all that was going on there was a division and there was all these different murmurings and complainings and that's what's happening here at the

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Feast of Tabernacles so Jesus did and still today draws such responses either people love him or hate him love or hate so Jesus has privately gone up he doesn't go openly he privately in secret goes up to the

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Feast of Tabernacles there's murmuring there's complaining and then right in the middle of the feast

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Jesus makes a move what's his move he causes a stir he gets up into the temple he goes to the outer courts of the temple and he begins to teach look at verse 14 back in John 7 now about the middle of the feast it's basically in the time frame here of the feast

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Jesus went up into the temple and taught he taught the

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Feast of Tabernacles the booths lasted for several days after it was about half over half way through it

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Jesus goes up into the outside of the area of the temple known as the porch the porch area where the people were allowed to gather and there was masses of people as Jesus gets up and he begins to teach now we don't know exactly it's not recorded what he teaches but whatever the case and whatever he teaches you can imagine in your mind and you think about Matthew 5, 6, and 7 that great sermon on the mount and this is what comes to my mind on this as Jesus taught that incredible sermon on the mount the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest preacher that ever lived the greatest man that ever lived and they said this after he finished his application and we'll look at this again in a minute so it was when

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Jesus had ended these sayings that the people were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes he had authority because all authority was given to him and such as a true prophet a true teacher of Israel he is teaching not like the other rabbis he's teaching in such a marvelous and astounding way that the people began to take notice and they were absolutely astonished a marvelous teaching teaching like they have never heard before in entirety of their history well of course he's greater than Jonah he's greater than the prophets he's greater than Solomon he's greater than all of them this is

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Jesus the Christ this is the Lord of Glory he's come in flesh but yet he comes as a man and he's humble and he's a servant and here he is he stands at the porch at the outer court and he teaches the people they were astounded by his teaching the

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Jews wondered how can this be since Jesus since he has no learning he's uneducated verse 15

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Jews marveled saying how does this man know letters having never studied how?

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how does this man know letters having never studied doubtless to say it was his knowledge of the

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Old Testament no doubt that impressed him but also the breath I would think of his learning his knowledge his depth his wisdom because he showed this in the temple remember we looked at this when he went to the temple as a 12 year old child and he was teaching the doctors and the lawyers and even the teachers of that day and even at the age of 12 they were marveling at his knowledge and his depth of his learning his ability to teach attracted their attention his knowledge of the scriptures was absolutely supernatural folks and that's all

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I can say about this because we'd have to say it's the spirit of the living God breathing upon the man

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Jesus Christ but yet he was God in flesh in a humble way but yet when he taught he taught with power and authority they knew that Jesus had never been to any of the great religious schools of that day the

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Jewish rabbi schools no he didn't go he spent time in secret and we know that he spent time with his earthly father

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Joseph as a carpenter and they could not understand how could he have such knowledge as he did they marveled about it but as a true prophet

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Jesus says this that his teaching is not of his own but is of the father who sent him he's in submission to his father's will whatever the father says he does it whatever the father speaks he says it the words of God speak right through him because he is the word he once again is grounding as a foundation his words and his authority in divine authority verse 16 we will look at and he answered them and said my doctrine is not mine but his who sent me he did

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Jesus even did not even take credit of the teaching that he was saying he was saying it comes from the father he answers that my doctrine my teaching is not mine but his who sent me the source of his teaching was from the father who sent him and he was in complete submission doing the perfect will of God notice in chapter 8 chapter 8 next chapter over look at verse 40 but now you seek to kill me a man who has told you the truth which

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I heard from God Abraham did not do this then he tells them you do the deeds of your father then they said to him we are not born of fornication we have one father

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God listen to this debate Jesus said to them if God were your father you would love me for I proceeded forth and came from God nor have

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I come of myself but he sent me why do you not understand my speech

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Jesus says because you are not able to listen to my word they don't have the ability they're blind they're deaf, they're mute, they're dead men and it is as it is let me give an application to each one of us remember when we give the gospel to people out there they are the walking dead they are dead corpses they are literally dead in trespasses and sins so we can't convert them no matter how much truth we give them but oh there's the key it is the truth it is not our words and that's what

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I'm talking about our truth within ourselves we can't do but listen to this the word of the living

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God can give life to dead bones you see that it's the spirit of the living

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God that can regenerate and brother Seth touched on this this morning

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John 3 why did Jesus ever go to that and saying this to a man of the

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Pharisees named Nicodemus a Pharisee, a learned man a scholar in his day old in his age knowing, supposedly knowing the

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Old Testament and yet Jesus says you must be born again you must be born from above you must be born of God you must be born supernaturally of God and Jesus goes on here you're not able to listen to my word they can't even hear they're like mute dead men walking and as it is as we give the gospel just remember the power is in the word of the living

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God folks and it needs to be bathed in prayer as we go to God in prayer and say oh

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God only you can bring a dead man alive and quicken them from the dead he said this to these

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Pharisees you are of your father the devil Jesus didn't hold back, that's strong preaching your father isn't

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God your father is the devil and the desires of your father you want to do, they had no desire to do the will of God their desire was to do the desire of Satan the desire of the devil and is this not the world in which we live in folks they do the desire of Satan they're naked, they're blind they're destitute they're dead men walking but we have the truth, the light of the gospel, lovingly give it to them,

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Jesus says speaking of the devil, he was a murderer from the beginning and he does not stand in the truth because there's no truth in him when he speaks a lie he speaks of his own resources he is a liar and the father of it wow

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Jesus basically expounds on that so Jesus here is doing what he does as our great prophet he shines that great light and darkness as the prophet says he fulfills that prophecy in Isaiah that he comes great light comes in great darkness and he's shining forth and he's opening the eyes of the blind, he's unstopping the deaf ears, he's causing the dead to raise again everything he does and it all points to what he can do spiritually which is the greatest thing that's the greatest miracle

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Jesus came and he came preaching the kingdom of God, right here let me bring up something to remember the time is clicking on I gotta hurry what

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God says of Israel through Moses in Deuteronomy 18 and 18, Deuteronomy this is a good verse

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Deuteronomy 18 and 18 says I will raise up for them a prophet a prophet like you from among their brothers this is

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God speaking through Moses and I will put my words in his mouth that's exactly what the father did to Jesus he put his words right in his mouth and he shall speak to them that all that I command him

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Deuteronomy 18 and 18 so this promise in Deuteronomy 18 and 18 is ultimately all about Jesus Christ Jesus Christ our

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Lord and Savior so as the people hear our great prophet speaking with awesome authority they either hate him or they love him they either are softened to come to him and repent or they're hardened in their sins there's nothing in between there folks a lot of people think well

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I'm riding a fence yet somehow there's no fence to ride are you on the Lord's side or are you not or do you serve and love

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God with all your heart soul mind and strength as God would give us the grace to do so and your desire is to do the will of God or it is the desire to do your own will and love yourself you see that it's one or the other it's no riding the fence

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Jesus draws a line and every time we hear the word of the living

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God we are being changed we're being transformed one way or the other our heart is softened to come to repentance it's like the wax that the sun melts or it's like the clay in which

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Spurgeon says it hardens one or the other so we're either being molded more and more into the image of God's son or we hardened to unbelief and may it be

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God forbid that we'll be hardened to unbelief amen that's a horrific thing to be hardened folks there's people in churches what do you think false teachers are they're hardened in their heart all they care about is themselves the love of money to use people and they get up they read scriptures they supposedly preach sermons and say thus saith the

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Lord they blaspheme God's name and yet people give and give and give to support these people and oh what an account it's going to be on judgment day let me give some application to this so much more that can be said here but we're going to see this in application that and I'm going to say those other two points the perfect law keeper and Jesus is a great position for another time

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God willing but let me give this personal application and it's about knowing and doing the will of God I cannot tell you how important and how critical this is folks and again

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I'll repeat it again the only way that you and I can know and do the will of God is that we got we must come to Jesus Christ you cannot know the will of God and do the will of God unless it's through the person of Jesus Christ no exceptions remember what 1st

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John 2 says it's a very important verse 1st

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John chapter 2 let me repeat it one of those I memorized when I was a young Christian do not love the world or the things in the world if anyone if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him that is straight and narrow and pointed isn't it in other words if you love the world the things of the world and if anyone loves the world we're talking about the world system we're not talking about trees and all that we're talking about the system of the world the love of the father is not in him if you have the love of the world in your heart today the love of the father is not in you

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I didn't say that God said that through the apostle then he tells us everything that's in the world verse 16 for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh that means the desires of the flesh how often do we see this all you gotta do is cut your phone on lust of the flesh the desires of the flesh the flesh the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life all about people's pride lifted up in pride what they can do their accomplishments living for self they don't even have the will of God on the radar folks and it's not of the father but it's of the world and what does he say in verse 17 the world is passing away well

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I don't believe that well yeah it is it's passing away and the lust thereof the desires of it is gonna pass away because people die man's kingdom will come to naught it will crumble it will go back to dirt look at the old

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Roman Empire God judged it it's dirt and rubble but he who does what the will of God abides forever see how important doing the will of God is actually

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Jesus ended his sermon on the mount that powerful sermon just that way everything he said in chapter 5 6 and 7 and that great sermon and he gives an application

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I'm gonna give you Jesus' application this morning listen to this verse 24 therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them obedience

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I will liken him to be a wise man who built his house on the rock we know who that rock is

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Jesus Christ and the rain descended the floods came that's actually in a sense a topology of the storms in our life or whatever comes our way the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall for it was founded on the rock but everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them he will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat on the house and it fell and what does he say great was the fall of it you want to make sure that your life is built on Jesus Christ and who he is and what he's done it's everything folks

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Jesus Christ and him crucified Jesus Christ he is everything he himself taught it's a wonderful promise here for everyone earnestly seeking the truth if a person is desirous and by the way only

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God can create that desire within you to know and do his will this is something that you just don't come up with if it's in your heart to do the will of God and to desire to do the will of God you must come to Jesus Christ repent of your sin believe the gospel throw your weight trust on him and obey

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God's word trust and obey for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey and by the way the spirit of truth is the one that authenticates this

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God himself through his Holy Spirit go to John 16 just briefly we can look at some of these verses in application but I like to bring a practical application to this because this is what

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Jesus taught his disciples John 16 5 through 15 let me see if I can remember this is the work of the

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Holy Spirit if you want to know the work of the Holy Spirit Jesus knew exactly what the work of the

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Holy Spirit is he says but now I go away to him who sent me and none of you ask me where are you going but because I've said these things to you sorrow has filled your heart nevertheless

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I tell you the truth it is to your advantage that I go away for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you but if I depart

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I will send him to you isn't it amazing this is talking about after his death and burial and resurrection he would go to the father's right hand and he sends the promise of the father

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Jesus himself sent the Holy Spirit not some kind of mystical force we're talking about the person the third person of the

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Trinity that comes and makes residence within us by faith and when he has come listen what would he do he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment that's the work of the

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Holy Spirit of sin Jesus unpacks this listen to this he says of sin because they do not believe in me of righteousness because I go to my father and you see me no more of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged and then he says this

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I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now how gracious and patient our Lord is he had so much on his heart at the time and here he is the truth himself but he says you know

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I'm going to wait you cannot take it you could in other words what he's saying you can't handle it right now but later on he did reveal it to him verse 13 however when he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth he will not speak of his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you things to come he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you all things that the father has are mine therefore

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I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you that it's the spirit of truth that reveals that truth of who

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Jesus is to us and even to a lost and dying world one more to to take up on that in reference to what

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John the apostle is saying the same apostle wrote this in 1st

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John chapter 2 and listen to what he says in chapter 2 verse 20 but you have the anointing from the

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Holy One and you know all things that doesn't mean we're omniscient it basically means within you you know

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God you know Christ you know the wisdom is from above it's heavenly wisdom and it's the spirit of God that teaches us even the most simple people not a actually

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I hate to say this but it's the truth and I'm not anti -educational of studying the scriptures but a lot of these people that get these

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PhDs PhDs, PhDs, PhDs and believe me some of my favorite teachers had PhDs R .C.

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Sproul many other godly men I'm not against this but what is said here watch out for some of them because they can't handle it folks they get lifted up in pride and let me tell you this

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God hates pride God's not against us being learned and knowing the scriptures and learning and being a good

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Berean and learning everything we can as long as it's the truth but I hate to say when a lot of these people go to these seminaries or should

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I say cemeteries and that's the truth they come out worse than they went in before they're no longer humble but they get behind the podiums and pulpits and they think there's something now they're relying upon their own intellect you see what

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I'm saying they're not relying upon God they're not humbling themselves before the foot of the cross as Spurgeon says as others are congratulating themselves

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I lie at the foot of the cross humbled that I'm even saved at all God help us to never get over that well obedience is the organ of spiritual knowledge someone said we must obey the words of our savior the commands of Christ MacArthur says here while other saviors and messiahs acted for their own selfish interests thereby revealing their falseness

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Jesus Christ as God's son came so solely to glorify the

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Father and accomplish the Father's will so Jesus was the only one to whom such words could be spoken and by the way is there any other quote unquote messiahs and saviors can even come close to Jesus and let me say this he is the only

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Lord the only savior and look at how he lived and look at the way how perfectly and humble he lived it none was so kind so gentle so holy so humble and he gave everything that he had for the glory of God to please the

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Lord and give us eternal life amen what a savior we have he has humbled himself to the point of death even to the death of a cross dare

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I would challenge anybody to say they got a savior that can even match him none can hallelujah

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I'm so thankful I could boast in the Lord today for Christ's sake as I preach that to you because there's no one that can match

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Jesus no one tell the world about this

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Jesus folks obey the word of the Lord and remember what

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Philippians 2 I want to read a little bit of Philippians 2 and then I got a small song

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I like to close with but this is what makes a strong church folks this is what will cause strength and unity and truth it is through humility it is always that we stay humble before God that remember that we are nobody we are absolutely nobody's before God and Christ has come and made us somebody because of Christ but we realize we're still nobody within ourselves if it were anything it's because of Christ therefore if there's any consolation in Christ encouragement if there's any comfort of love if there's any fellowship of the spirit if there's any affection and mercy

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Paul says fulfill my joy and be like minded having the same love be in one accord in one mind let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself think of that if each and every one of us did this in this little church how strong we would be to think of others more than ourselves to highly esteem others to lift them up to pray for them and to encourage them and to serve them serve serve serve let each of you

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Paul says of you look out not only for his own interest but also for the interest of others and then from verse five all the way to verse eleven he speaks of Jesus Christ being that example let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bond slave and coming in the likeness of men and being found in the appearance of a man what did he do he humbled himself he humbled himself and became obedient even

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Christ had to be obedient to the father's will to the point of death even the death of a cross therefore

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God has also highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow to those in heaven and those on earth and those under the earth that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is lord to the glory of God the father it's all for the glory of God even what

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Jesus did there was to the glory of God his crucifixion his burial his resurrection all that God may be glorified and remember what

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Jesus said let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works why and glorify your father in heaven folks

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I'll leave that with you may we do this there's a modern song

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I just heard and it's beautiful and I told my daughter Elizabeth I think this will be a great suggestion now okay

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I gotta let her listen to it but it was written by Abigail Miller and it's called

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Goodbye My Way I want you to listen to this it's a simple song and it's actually for children but listen to how scriptural this is she says

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I used to think that my way was the best that I could do I thought

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I had to learn I'm sorry lean on all the things I thought I knew but I found my way was hopeless and my well of life ran dry and that's why

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I said goodbye my way goodbye my way goodbye empty world hello

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Jesus love goodbye peace goodbye my way and hello peace and joy within goodbye my way hello

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God's way second stanza my way was evil his way is right my way was darkness his way is light my way was emptiness and the foolishness of pride and that's why

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I said goodbye goodbye self goodbye sin have you made your mind up to say goodbye to yourself and sin hello peace and joy within goodbye my way hello

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God's goodbye my way hello God's may we take these words with us today these are the things that are written as I spoke of Jesus that you may believe that Jesus is the

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Christ the son of God and that believing you may have life in his name but as many as received him to them he gave the right that is the privilege to become the children of God to those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor the will of man but the will of God let's pray father that's our prayer today goodbye my way hello to your will hello to your way for thy will to be done our will must be undone for your desire to be done our desire must be undone and you feel and transform our desires to your desire it becomes your desire within us to do the will of God to desire to do your will more than anything else in this entire world as Paul says beseeching brethren by urging them by the mercies of God to present their bodies a living sacrifice set apart holy set apart acceptable to you

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Lord which is our reasonable service our spiritual act of worship that we may not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind that we may prove what is that good and perfect acceptable and perfect will of God Lord help us with all of our hearts and mind and soul and strength to live this out in our daily life in the home at work

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Lord our words our thoughts our deeds as it speaks in Psalm 119

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Lord as a man that is filled with the spirit of knowing and doing your will as Jesus perfectly did it

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Lord we come in his train we follow in his footsteps for he is our perfect example we thank you for your son that set that humble perfect example by fulfilling your law

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Lord give us the grace I pray give each and everyone here Lord that desire to do to know and to do your will and by that Lord we must stay in communion with you

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Lord stay on our faces before you and praying to you and knowing what will thy will be done and Lord you give us you have given us your word to know your your will help us to be obedient to it by your help and grace and I pray this in Jesus name