Ready To Kill God

many of us and maybe You know most of us grew up in a church a religion of some kind Some kind of church environment, but you know there is this growing trend, and I would invite you to open your

Bibles to John 10 well I'm Kind of giving us our introduction or John chapter 8 sorry

Many of us probably grew up in that sort of a church environment But today it's becoming increasingly rare Increasingly less common, let's put it that way for people to have grown up in that sort of environment

You know there's a whole group of people they call Unchurched And recently

I was communicating with some unbelievers whether they are unchurched or not I'm not really sure but one of them said that the founders of several different religions

Had taught the golden rule you know this idea do unto others as you would have them do unto you

So they said well, you know what in the context of this recent Supreme Court decision about homosexual marriage

How about we just? Treat homosexuals the way that they've always treated us. They didn't mess around with our marriages

So we should grant them that same right and to do anything less is in fact discrimination and The next thing

I know one of the other guys is saying well, you know what Jesus not only approved of homosexuality

Talk about unchurched but he also approved of homosexual marriage and This guy even had a couple of passages as proof

And he had an expert from the Internet. Yeah, I I was pretty desperate.

I was up against it But what do you do then you go to the context you look at and one of the context had to do with divorce and Whether you know under what conditions you could get divorced had nothing whatsoever to do with homosexuality and then the other one

I found very curious was out of Matthew and This Roman centurion cared very much about one of his servants and wanted

Jesus to heal him and Jesus did it but never even went and saw the man and and He says well this experts on the

Internet said that well the fact that this centurion cared for his servant Shows that they were homosexuals

I'm going I'm in a lot of trouble because there there are a lot of men that I care about and I you know,

I It's just bizarre You know these kind of proof text arguments and how people don't really know all that much but once I Kind of I you know,

I all I had to do it. This wasn't hard You don't have to go to seminary to do this Once I put these things in context to explain they didn't mean what they wanted them to mean that guy says the same guy

Says well, we don't really know what Jesus said. Anyway, the Gospels aren't that reliable. So let me see if I got this straight

Jesus affirmed homosexuals and homosexual marriage and you have the gospel evidence to prove it and Then the

Gospels aren't reliable anyway, so they're not evidence. I Think we call that the law of non -contradiction

Something cannot be something and not be something at the same time It can't be evidence and unreliable and not evidence at the same time

But you know, this is the world we live in folks This is post -modern

America where the law of non -contradiction Has been canceled been sent on hiatus things can be and Cannot be at the same time.

Are we glad we have the Word of God? again, we're in chapter 8 of John And we're gonna begin reading it verse 48

I'm here to affirm you that two things are true. The law of non -contradiction cannot be revoked and Neither can the

Word of God Beginning in verse 48 the

Jews answered him Are we not right and saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon

Jesus answered I Do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you

Dishonor me Yet I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it and he is the judge

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

The Jew said to him now we know that you have a demon getting ready to sneeze sorry

Abraham died as did the prophets and Yet you say if anyone keeps my word

He will never taste death Are you greater than our father

Abraham who died and the prophets died? Who do you make yourself out to be?

Jesus answered if I glorify myself My glory is nothing It is my father who glorifies me of whom you say

He is our God, but you have not known him I know him if I were to say that I do not know him.

I Would be a liar like you But I do know him and I keep his word

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day He saw it and was glad So the

Jews said to him You are not yet 50 years old and have you seen

Abraham Jesus said to them Truly truly

I say to you before Abraham was I Am so they picked up stones to throw at him

But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple now this morning.

We come to the conclusion of chapter 8 Conclusion of a really lengthy interaction between the

Jewish leaders the Jews the Pharisees as they're variously described here and Jesus on the temple mount in the treasury

And that's a remarkable interaction To be sure the more truth that Jesus gives them the more angry they become

So when I said, you know, they're ready to kill God the title of the sermon. That's The point that we're gonna reach this morning.

Now. There's a moment when During this discourse when some seem to accept what he said

We saw that last week and the week before a couple weeks before But even these those that are said to have believed in Jesus turn on him and The anger of the

Pharisees in this passage that we have before us this morning builds and builds culminating in their attempt

To murder him thus to kill God And this morning

I'm going to show you from our text really three verbal assaults that they make three charges that they level at him and Then instead of answering them in kind of a tit -for -tat sort of way just refuting all their allegations

Jesus really has three proclamations. So it's three verbal assaults three proclamations And then finally, we're gonna see what

I call, you know an attempt 187. This is that's a that's a California Penal Code term for murder they're really going to try to kill him and finally we see his miraculous escape and I believe the text is instructive for us because the unbelievers make baseless accusations against the

Lord In fact, they do so so often that he doesn't even address their lies And I think there's a lesson in that for us because so often the attacks that come against Christianity against the

Word of God are baseless, they're groundless and We don't have to make a point -for -point

Refutation we can get lost in the details. The important thing is to do what? It's to tell the truth and that's exactly what

Jesus does with these folks. He tells them the truth Now, of course you may think to yourself, well,

I don't want to tell the truth to the point where people want to kill me But Jesus is fearless because he's on a mission.

He knows it's not the time yet for him to die Assault number one look at verse 48 again

The Jews answered him. Are we not right and saying that you have or that you are a

Samaritan? Now that they answered him we have to kind of go back a couple verses and look at the

Charge that they're responding to or the the issue that they're responding to look back at verse 46

Jesus says which one of you convicts me of sin? If you recall we explained that basically well what he's saying there is go ahead and make a charge

But you have to be ready to prove that charge if you can find even one sin That I've committed then let's have it

Which of you which one of you convicts me of sin? And as I said,

I think there's a little bit of pause there just waiting for somebody to boldly say what you did

But there's nothing He goes on to say if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? If I haven't sinned and if I lied certainly that would be a sin if I haven't sinned what's wrong with you

It's a more aggressive way of saying it, but why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God.

Here's the words of God The reason you do not hear them is that you are not of God He separates them into two groups as the

Word of God always does there are believers and unbelievers The believers are of God the unbelievers are not of God It's remarkable to consider to think about if Jesus were a mere mortal

Then surely by this time they would have found a flaw in his teaching Something wrong that he had done, but they can't list one yet.

They refuse to believe him so Jesus tells them why they do not believe because in spite of their protestations and Their professions they are not

God's children. They don't belong to the father. They claim And the

Jews respond in verse 48 with a rhetorical question of their own They suggest that he's a

Samaritan There really is no kind of equivalent today

No kind of derisive term that you could throw at somebody that would mean quite the same thing

And if you recall back in John chapter 4 when we discussed the woman at the well, she was a

Samaritan She had a lot of things going against her in that culture She was a woman men were not supposed to speak to women

They were not presumed to have anything to discuss

But she was also a Samaritan Samaritans were part Jewish They were considered half breeds

Mongrels they had they were basically a nation formed by people who had married non -jews

So they were looked down racially they were looked down upon racially they were also looked down upon religiously

Because they had some bits of Judaism But they couldn't worship up on the temple because they weren't

Jews so they'd move things around a little bit and change some things and They were

Heretics to the Jews. So there was no greater insult to a Jew than to call him a

Samaritan that was as bad as you could get that was as low as you could go So if Jesus was going to question their connection to God if they if he was going to in essence in their minds

Insult them the religious elite the people who claimed to be God's Chosen his beloved the ones who are earning his favor if the

Pharisees were going to Suffer that kind of thing then they were gonna fire right back, but that's not enough they also claim

Jesus is Basically crazy. Are we not right in saying that you are

Samaritan and have a demon? You're you're the worst of the worst you're a mongrel you're a heretic and by the way, you're a demon possessed so he's either a liar a messenger from Satan or maybe both

And that's how Their first attack ends now notice Jesus first proclamation

I Could call him an answer, but he doesn't really even answer both of the Charges he ignores the one about Being a

Samaritan. He just dismisses out of hand doesn't even mention it. But look what he says verse 49 Jesus answered

I do not have a demon That's it. I just nothing about the

Samaritan and I do not have a demon and To underscore really how far he is from demonic control

He uses the sharpest Contrast there are two words.

I say this often there are two words that can that can be translated but in English there's the

The one that shows mild contrast. This is the strongest possible contrast but So, I'm not a demon

I'm not possessed by a demon I'm not a messenger from Satan but rather in contrast and sharpest contrast

I Honor my father there have been

Several occasions upon which Jesus has said that the father sent him in fact recently even in verse 42 during this discourse, but how do they treat

Jesus? How do they respond to him with contempt With insults, he's not good enough.

He's not smart enough. He wasn't trained at all the best schools We don't know but as parentage

We think he's demon -possessed What does he say he says he honors reveres shows the

Bruce proper respect for the father How does he do this? By doing his will by obeying him

At all times and in every way the father sent him and He honors the father, but what do they do?

What are these? Jews these Pharisees do they dishonor him they treat

Jesus shamefully How can this be how can they think that the father who sent

Jesus That they can honor him and yet dishonor the son How can they think that insulting the son is going to gain them favor with the father

Now for a moment just think with me because I'm going to take

I'm really gonna stab this idea that all religion is good that all religions meet up at the top as my former boss used to Say that there are many great religions in the world

Every one of those statements is false, and I'm gonna stab it in the heart any religion that pretends to honor the father while disregarding the son

How can anyone believe that such a scheme is even plausible?

How could we possibly hold hands? close our eyes and Pretend to be praying to the father with people of different faiths who have rejected the

Lord Jesus Christ Do we suppose that the father will understand is?

The father not concerned with all the little details I mean as long as our hearts are in the right place, and we're all sincere, then it doesn't really matter the psalmist wrote in Psalm 2

Familiar words kiss the son Lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled Blessed are all who take refuge in him

Take refuge in the son Kiss the son honor the son It's the way to the father

Jesus said that I Am the way the truth in the life No one comes to the father, but by me and so for all these kind of ecumenical movements all these ideas of reaching out and Stretching out and we all have one father.

What's true physically as I said last week, but it is not true spiritually It's not true in any way and to pretend that it is in some kind of way

Is an insult to the father Failing to believe and trust in Christ is failing to honor the father

Who sent the son and the result of that is eternal punishment?

And this is what the religious establishment of Jesus day was doing they were dishonoring the son and it is what the

Intelligentsia the too smart for their own good folks are doing right now dishonoring the son

Minimizing the son putting words in his mouth Jesus honored the father by doing his will and submitting to him

We honor the father by honoring his son whom he sent Worshiping him notice also in verse 50 that the father glorifies

Jesus The father glorifies Jesus yet. I do not seek. This is the Lord speaking.

He says yet. I do not seek my own glory There is one who seeks it and he is the judge.

Well, the one is obviously the father the Pharisees saw Jesus as Self -seeking and you know in psychological terms we would call that what?

Projection you see in other people what is true about you? So they saw him as self -seeking.

Well, the truth is they were self -seeking They were the ones out to maintain their power their prestige

They were the ones who were threatened not him they thought he was looking for some kind of angle that he was looking for some kind of edge and They were just wrong.

He wasn't after fame fortune power and Jesus directly refutes any such thinking and look at the complete confidence he has in the father.

He says the father seeks The glory of Jesus he seeks his glory and he is the one who judges the father will essentially

Vindicate me the father will glorify him Of course, this will come after he is obedient unto death on a cross at the very hands of the people that he's

Talking to Jesus honors the father who in turn Glorifies his son.

Don't you get a sense of the Trinitarian? Relationship the love that they have for one another

He honors the father doesn't seek his own glory he trusts the father to glorify him and the father glorifies

His son and this is one of the things I love about John John is so doctrinally precise

Let's turn for a moment to you Matthew chapter 21 I could give this very same title to this parable

Matthew 21 beginning in verse 33 Here another parable.

There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and dug a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and build a tower and Leased it to tenants.

And by the way when he does all those things he is Telling us that this vineyard is

Perfectly prepared it is prepared to the to the best level possible

To protect it and to make sure that the harvest is plentiful He dug a winepress in it and build a tower and leased it to tenants and went into another country

He left it left it in the care of these tenants When the season for fruit drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit his percentage his rent in other words

And the tenants took his servants and beat one killed another and stoned another

Again, he sent other servants more than the first and they did the same to them

Finally, he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son But when the tenants saw the

Sun they said to themselves This is the heir come let us kill him and have his inheritance and they took him and Threw him out of the vineyard and killed him

When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes what will he do to those tenants? They said to him

He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants

Who will give him the fruits in their seasons? Jesus said to them.

Have you never read in the scriptures the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone?

This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes Therefore I tell you the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits and The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces and when it falls on anyone it will crush him now listen

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard the heard his parables they perceived that he was speaking about them and Although they were seeking to arrest him

They feared the crowds because they held him to be the crowds did held him to be a prophet

This is the last week of Jesus life this is just a few months down the road and this is the same sort of crowd that he is talking to in the

Gospel of John Angry ready to kill him Why because he's telling them the truth

I am sent from God and you think you can reject me and there's gonna be no consequences

Back to John and our Lord now directly addresses these men with a promise

He promises eternal life look at verse 51, you know now in even in this context he he wants to give them some truth

Some something that they can really grab on to verse 51 truly truly. I say to you if anyone keeps my word

He will never see death Those words which we'll see again here in a moment.

Amen. Amen Begin this promise from Christ and they underscore the the importance the truth of what is about to follow

What a wonderful promise it is to never experience death That's what

Jesus means but he's not talking about physical death he means spiritual death he's talking about Eternity apart from the love and the mercy of God In fact as one man put it when he was talking about hell

He said that they will not experience the crushing weight of his wrath of God's wrath and condemnation forever

Friends, that's why when we approach Conversations with unbelievers We need to approach them in light of eternity and light of forever

Because they have a soul and they're one day going to answer for what they've done with the Lord Jesus Christ and if they trample him underfoot

If they disregard him if they do not believe The consequence is not some light affliction for a few weeks a few months a few years

It is forever There is no end to it

Do the people that you're talking to know this do they appropriately dread the eternal judgment of God We have to explain that to them.

How can we say that? We love people if we will not warn them we need to give them the good news that they can have forgiveness full and free there is

One thing that's people balk at when it comes to Being saved they they're willing to be saved from hell

But they don't want any kind of rules or regulations or any of that But Jesus says you need to do what says it right there verse 51 if anyone keeps my word

What does it mean to keep my word? Keep the Word of Christ It means to accept it by faith to obey it and then to stand guard over it

What do you mean obey it are we supposed to be perfect after salvation do we have to stop sinning are we gonna stop sinning

I like how one dictionary put it says to persist in obedience In other words, there will never be an abandonment of the words of Christ your desire to obey him

We'll never leave you Once the Spirit of God has kindled that desire in you.

In other words, once you become born again You will always have it you will always want to obey

You will stumble you may fall but you will never give up in trying to obey the one who

Sacrifices life for you. So we've seen the first assault by the

Pharisees We've also seen Jesus first proclamation now assault number two. They're gonna they're regrouping and they come back again

Basically, they say Jesus you're a liar because not even the greatest men in history Live forever look at verse 52 the

Jews said to him now We know that you have a demon Abraham died as did the prophets yet You say if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death

Are you greater than our father Abraham who died and the prophets died?

Now just think about again about what Jesus has promised eternal life to those who keep his word

Now, what do the Jews do immediately? They reject his word Spurgeon made a great observation here

Jesus will not answer their questions for they do not ask that they may learn in other words.

They're not making honest inquiries They asked that they may complain So he multiplies his riddles.

He lets the light blind them even more No one could possibly dare to speak to the

Pharisees as Jesus did So they reasoned that he must have a demon They it must be true.

He's either Dima possessed or a fantastic liar or maybe both Look, they say the greatest men in the

Old Testament all died You're lying Jesus those men died and anyone who believes you anyone who follows you will also die

They have as they usually do Taking the words of Jesus in a crass

Literal manner that he's talking about not suffering physical death And they say wait a minute.

Everybody dies Abraham died the great prophets died And they conclude with really something that says just who do you think you are?

Verse 53, who do you make yourself out to be? That's the gist of it. Who do you think you are making such a promise?

They recognize that these claims are remarkable, in fact, they know that it would take a super being super human

Above human power to pull them off Who could possibly keep his disciples from dying, but they've not been listening

It's not as if Jesus has been trying to hide his identity It's not as if he's been making mild claims up to now.

It's not it's not common

Well, look at it this way Jesus comes up and says I've been sent from God I've been sent by the

Father I'm one day going to return to him all these statements that he's made

And yet they're like well, how can you possibly do this? He but he's not hiding who he is and you know, have you ever talked to anybody who said they're

God I've talked to a few people who said that they're God But there's something about them when they say it you just go, okay

All right, pal, you know, you know that they're not serious they they have an aura of If you've talked to somebody who's not quite right, you know it

But Jesus isn't presenting that way Otherwise, they just walk away from him. He is serious

He is Not out of his mind and they can't figure it out and they cannot stand it

Look at how Jesus responds with proclamation number two first.

He says that he knows the Father verse 54 Jesus answered if I glorify myself, my glory is nothing it is my father who glorifies me of whom you say he is our

God But you have not known him. I know him if I were to say that I do not know him

I would be a liar like you That'll really ingratiate him with him

But I do know him and I keep his word the Father glorifies

Jesus a repetition of what we've heard before but Here he says it is my father who glorifies me glorifies is a present active participle now

What does that mean? It means it's ongoing. Yes, but the fact that it's a participle means it's an inherent part of What the father does

It's a characteristic of the father to glorify the son. He puts the spotlight

He puts the focus on his son much as what the Holy Spirit does that Notice also that the father knows the son intimately notice how

Jesus says my father Not our father my father and notice how also he distances them from his father

He says of whom you say He is our God the relationship

Jesus has with the father is very personal and The relationship that the

Pharisees have with the father is one that exists only in their minds They have no relationship with God The only relationship they have is they profess to be his children so they attack the

Son of God and thus prove how empty their claim of Relationship with the father is can you imagine?

We love the father we hate his son Those two things are incongruent.

It's the law of Non -contradiction they both can't be true. You can't say you love the father and then hate his son the son knows the father

Intimately they have this intimate relationship Two different verbs in this passage are used for no

Jesus says they do not know him. The Pharisees do not know him, but I do And the significance of this is explained by Hendrickson he says

As he kind of paraphrases it he says you the Pharisees have not learned to recognize him the father

Have not become acquainted with him though. He revealed himself to you, but I do know him intuitively and directly

Having been in his presence from all eternity In other words, I have a relationship that you guys talk about but you can't even imagine you think you have a relationship with a father, but you don't and if I said

I Didn't have that relationship. I would be a liar but he's not and We know that from the text.

The son is a true son. Why because I keep his word the text says

Remember how Jesus said? The one who keeps the words of Jesus will have eternal life.

Well, look what he says here. I keep his word I keep the father's word D a Carson says in John on the gospel of John knowledge of God cannot be separated from obedience.

You say, you know God Well, then you obey him you say, you know

Christ then you obey him Jesus says I know the father and I obey him

Jesus perfectly obeys the father the Pharisees who claim to have

God as their father. I've turned a message of faith into a message of works

They are attempting to merit their way into heaven There are no different than every other world religion today trying to be good enough to be acceptable to God and They do not keep the father's word

Not only does Jesus know God But he also says that he knows Abraham the one whom they profess to be the spiritual descendants of not just physical

But spiritual descendants look at verse 56 your father Abraham Rejoiced that he would see my day.

He saw it and was glad now the

Pharisees Had wanted Jesus dead for some time ever since he healed that man on the

Sabbath and by contrast Jesus says Abraham the one they claim as father was thrilled

Was overjoyed It's what that word means to know This day of Jesus was coming he saw it and was glad The Pharisees kept claiming

Abraham as their spiritual father, but Jesus already told them that their works Were not like Abraham's Abraham believed

God in his messenger furthermore Abraham acted on what God told him the

Pharisees for all their pretensions were incapable of Grasping the simplicity of the gospel they wanted

Complications they wanted things to do Abraham rejoiced to see

Jesus day well in what sense and when I mean there are multiple questions here, and we could do

There are all sorts of answers about it, but I think the simplest and most helpful way to understand this is

That Abraham like many other Old Testament saints look forward to the cross look forward to a

Redeemer believing in faith that God Would indeed one day provide a lamb who would permanently deal with their sins

Yes, it begins with the birth of Isaac God being faithful to keep his promise

But Abraham knew just like Samson and like all the Old Testament saints Let me just read

Hebrews 11 verses 8 to 10 Hebrews 11 verses 8 to 10 you don't have to turn there.

I'll read that by faith The Hall of Faith of course by faith Abraham Obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance

And he went out not knowing where he was going by faith He went on or he went to live in the land of promise as in a foreign land living in tents with Isaac and Jacob Heirs with him of the same promise for he was looking forward to the city that has foundations

Whose designer and builder is God listen they weren't looking for a city on earth

He wasn't looking forward to just going out in the wilderness and showing up in some place and going wow Look at this great city

And you know walking in the front and having somebody ring the bell and give him the deed to the city

That's not what he was looking for He was focused on heaven and he trusted in faith

That God would get him there that God would make atonement for his sins

Abraham was by no means perfect, but he believed

God and it was Reckoned to him as righteousness

He looked forward to the cross Not even knowing what a cross was

But he believed that God would make atonement for his sins The father knows

Jesus Jesus knows the father Jesus knows Abraham and unlike the Pharisees whose focus was on the here and now

Abraham whom they claimed to have known was trusting God for something more than some temporary reward

He was willing to just step out in faith and to believe God Now assault number three their response to this verse 57

So the Jews said to him you are not yet 50 years old and have you seen Abraham?

Listen Jesus, it's not like you're 2 ,000 years old and that's how old you'd have to be to have seen

Abraham You did not see Abraham. You don't know Abraham. That's impossible

There is no way you can know Abraham now you think about well Why'd they come up with 50 a lot of possible reasons?

But one is that 50 was seen as an age of really becoming an adult So all you people, you know below 50 stand by Was maturity, you know at Jesus was maybe 32 ish.

We don't know exactly But he still would have been seen as a young man Certainly nowhere near what would have been considered an elder

They thought his claim was as ridiculous as it was audacious There's no way he could have seen him physically and he's certainly not old enough to really have that that kind of knowledge

There's just no way he could make a claim like this Jesus response proclamation number three is third proclamation

Verse 58 Jesus said to them truly truly I say to you before Abraham was

I am Again, the amen. Amen at the beginning truly truly. This is a trustworthy statement

This is fully true tested 100 % accurate before Abraham was born.

That's what it means before Abraham was before he even existed Before he was even created

Jesus claims to have existed Now that would be a startling claim all by itself

But the wording here leaves no doubt what Jesus is claiming not that he's a 2 ,000 year old man

But that he always existed One commentator says that Jesus words the way he phrased it means that he

Transcends time now, that's true, right? Everything is created by Jesus all everything the entire universe and Time itself is his creation

He does transcend time And he makes it very plain that he is in fact

God. I am he says before Abraham was I am a go a me

He references Exodus 3 verses 13 and 14 and I'll read those this is before the

Delivery Moses has just been called by God to be

God's spokesman before Pharaoh Verse 13 then Moses said to God If I come to the people of Israel and say to them the

God of your fathers has sent me to you and they asked me What is his name?

What shall I say to them? Moses is just trying to get out of this God said to Moses I am who

I am and he said say to this people of Israel. I am

Has sent me to you So when Jesus says before Abraham was

I am Not I was but I am he's referring right back to that He tells them it is

I am who stands before you it is The covenant

God of Israel Yahweh Self -existent the

God whom your forefathers worshipped who stands before you right now eternal

Self -existent and by the way, this is a God that really decimates anti -trinitarian teaching

Mormons Jehovah Witnesses It's also crushing the

Muslims I once had a Trustee in the jail who was

Muslim And he said to me one night. He said, you know, well

Jesus never said he was God And I said what about John? 858 you know what his response was he goes.

Well, that's it doesn't say that he's God So I tried explaining it to him and I said, you know what better yet and I'll say better yet to you, too

Look at the response. The response is attack This is assault number four.

This is a physical attack. Look at verse 59 This is how the original audience you want to know what a verse means in context.

You look at the response of the people 59 so they picked up stones to throw at him.

This ain't like rotten tomatoes here folks. They were out to kill him

They were out to stone him to death There are only two responses to the claim of Jesus Worship him as God Or attack him and you say well, what about just kind of ignoring him and hoping him?

He'll he'll go away Well difference isn't really logical. He claims to be God and they had no reason other than their bias to disbelieve him

But they could not because the hardness of their hearts they could not believe him So they just get angry and mad and matter and matter and finally they've had his head enough

Now some speculate that there was some construction going on at the temple at the time So there were stones readily available that may or may not be true

I mean certainly there was a lot of construction on the temple over time Herod built a massive wonderful temple there and it that could be true

But I can tell you this that those rocks aren't little tiny rocks if you've ever seen or Are familiar with the practice of stoning these would have been pretty good sized rocks and that's what they were out to do

There was no trial which by the way, they should have had They were outraged.

They were out of control. This is mob rule So what to do?

miraculous escape look at verse 59 But Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple now here.

This really is a mystery the Greek for hid himself is passive So it could be

That this is something done to Jesus by the Father by the Holy Spirit that they hid him and It could also be something that Jesus himself did in his

Deity and the faith in his office as God But whichever the three of them or if all three of them work together to do this we don't know but in some supernatural fashion

Jesus is concealed as hidden from their eyes They can't get him they can't stone him and He is able to leave the temple without being stoned to death the response of the unbelieving world

To Jesus claims of deity is not love Unbelievers will tell you that they love

Jesus and I think many of them probably have in their minds the idea that they do What's the

Jesus that they love? Who is it? One who loves them no matter what they do

No matter who they are. No matter what they believe He's just somebody who wants to hang out with them and be their best friend forever

He's the kind of guy who would never unfriend them on Facebook or do anything Mean to them, but is that Jesus is that Jesus of John 8?

the Jesus who actually exists rather than the one they would like to imagine if Unbelievers were back there in the temple

Today's unbelievers and they heard what he said they take up stones too and Frankly, if I was there and I was not saved

I would take up stones, too Why? Here's our chance to get our hands on God Abraham and the host of other heroes.

So the faith looked forward to a Savior They did not know who that would be.

But we do we know it's the Lord Jesus Christ and we live in a time now where If there's anything that's intolerable

It's to proclaim that somebody needs to change that somebody needs to repent Because we're repenting if it means changing your mind it means that you need to deny yourself

The words of today are follow your heart be true to yourself not deny yourself

Not change your mind about who you are so it's courageous for a man in his 60s to declare himself a woman

The idea of telling him listen to change his mind to repent Is what it's judgmental

It's mean it's Hateful we live in a world.

It's it's like a carnival mirror Attraction everything is distorted.

Everything's backwards Down is up up is down Wrong is right and right is wrong

It's not hateful to tell a man to change his mind It's not hateful to tell a woman to repent

It's the most loving thing you can do We have to stand for the truth. We have to tell people

Solomon was right when he said there's a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death

You think you need to be true to yourself? You need to deny yourself

Repent of your sins believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved We need to encourage people to flee to the shelter of the cross

Remind them that Jesus lived the life you and I ought to live sinless Then he died the death that you and I deserve

Burying the wrath of God for sin in the place of all who would ever believe

Then the father raised him on the third day To prove the efficacy of his sacrifice

We need to beg people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Believers would never want to kill

God Until they met him Let's pray father in heaven you are

Not just sovereign Not just holy not just a

God who is patient And yet will Unleash his wrath one day upon this world

Father you are a loving forgiving God Who takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked?

Who longs to see people come to faith in Christ? Lord would you work through your word to convict people of this truth?

Jesus Christ is a great savior And every person needs that savior

There is no other means for having forgiveness of sins There is no other means for entering heaven

Father make us faithful bold messengers of that even in a world that Calls it hate speech

Whatever the consequences be father.

We pray for these things And for the glory of your son to be The focus of our lives we pray in Jesus name.