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Alright. Good morning. It is 09:00, which means we get to go ahead and get our day started off here. We'll make sure I like to see that there's lots of room over here and on this side because this place is gonna fill up and then you guys won't have to move. So that's a good situation right now.
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Let's go ahead and stand up and let's worship together.
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Children of the living God, come and sing, sing out loud. Children of the living God, sing to the living God. Sing of the wonders he has made, burden fly, falling rain. Sing of the wonders he has made, sing to the living God. How he loves us with great love, he living God, sing to the living God.
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Sing of his gentle healing hands, how they found the lowliest man. Sing of his gentle healing hands, Sing to the living God. Sing of the mercies that he gives. Though we sin, he forgives. Sing of the mercies that he gives.
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Sing to the living in the clouds, glorious sun. Sing of the morning when he comes. Sing to the living God. We're lord. To
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Amen. Good morning. Welcome to First B. We're glad that you're here to worship with us today. If it's your first time, welcome.
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Special welcome. There's some communicate cards in the seat in front of you. If you want to tell us that you're here and we can follow-up or if you have any needs, let us know. I wanted to make a few announcements but we've got so much going on that there's not time for everything. So, I'll draw your attention to the bulletin to read all of the announcements and all the things that there are for you to do.
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There's opportunities for everybody, kids, men, women, if you just read the bullet, you can get involved but first off, I wanted to let you know that Solid Rock Youth Group starts again tonight, Meets at 05:30 in the Fellowship Hall. Tomorrow night, Monday nights, we have Awana here and during that same Awana hour, there's a contemporary worship service in the Fellowship Hall for adults. So, if you've got kids coming to Awana, make sure and check us out there. There's a time for adult conversation and a meal and and some worship down there. I wanted to let you all know that the congregational business meeting is next Sunday between services.
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So, if you come to this service, plan to stay late. At that meeting, we'll talk about the budget. We'll elect new officers and elders and we'll do some some thanking of God for his provision and some visioning for for the coming year. So, be sure to stay with us for that. Today, between the services and the fellowship hall is an appreciation time for the folks who serve on the frontline ministry team.
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So, stay with us for that and if you feel like you want to serve on that team, that would be a good opportunity to meet those people and and find out more information. How we doing here? There's a lot of stuff going on for men right now. Wednesday mornings, meet on on right here and then in a couple weeks, the snowmobile weekend, February 15 through the seventeenth, President's weekend, we go up to Island Park Christian Ranch, Old Faithful Christian Ranch in Island Park and have a weekend of snowmobiling and Dan Dugan will be the speaker there. But specifically coming up February 2 is an exciting opportunity that I wanted to announce.
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The men's fraternity group is going to be hosting an event at Snow King, an all day video event put on by Family Life Today. And there's going to be thousands of men's groups across the country doing it all at the same time and we're lucky to be able to do it here in Jackson. We have a little video as a trailer.
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There are moments in life that a man can't possibly prepare for. When he's dropped into combat without warning. I faced a season like that, dropped into a battle that I hadn't signed up for. When I had to face down fear and embrace a different kind of courage.
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Courage is the ability to do the hard thing in every circumstance.
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That is tough. It's not controversial at all.
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Despite the cost.
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One day, there's going to be a moment of difficulty, and there's going to be a wife and some children who turn their eyes toward you.
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I don't really have the strength.
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No, God. You can't love me.
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But I know where to get it.
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And all he said was,
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I still love you.
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You just don't quit when you have a responsibility. Men Men don't don't quit. Quit.
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You have to step up.
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Act like men.
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A real man rejects passivity. He doesn't just stand there.
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So there's moments in every man's life that they make decisions and change direction, and this could be one of those moments for you that day. Some of the things that we'll talk about will be what it means to be a man in today's day and age where there's a lot of confusion about that. We'll help you cast a vision for your life that can help you to be more effective as a man in your community and a leader in your home. I think it'll be a great day. So if you're able to attend, registration is online at eventbrite.com and in your bulletin there's a little flyer.
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This serves as a great invitation if you know of somebody that you could invite to pass around. But keep this and register sooner than later because we're limited to 50 participants. And we hope to see you there. So let's take a moment, stand up and say hello to somebody that you've never met before and.
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Us, how vast beyond all measure that he should give his precious treasure. How great the pain of searing I will not boast in in my life You may be seated.
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Good morning. My name is Mike Mayer. I'm an elder in this church and I have the privilege to to
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do
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the discovery class. If you don't know the discovery class is, it's just something that we put on. Martin Murphy and I get to go in there and just visit with you if you are interested in becoming a member at First B. We only have one rule of becoming a rule or becoming a member of First B and that is to to place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your lord. So, we've had a couple of people who have met that requirement.
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Grant and Kristen Galloway, if you too would mind coming forward, I have a bunch of theological questions I'd like to ask you. So, no. Really, I'd like to share some scripture first of all. Out of first Corinthians chapter 12 starting at verse 12, it says, for just as the body is one and has many members and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit, we were all baptized in one body.
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Jews are Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?
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If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. So I always, as we do a covenant ceremony here today with new members, I always, love to give an opportunity, to visit with the, these guys and let them share with you a little bit about how they came to this decision.
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So, at this time, Grant, Kristen, would you like to share with the body?
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Good morning. I'm Grant. This is my wife, Kristen. We've been taking fellowship here for a little over seven years. Working with youth ministry and a bunch of opportunities we've been allowed to do here and in the last couple years, we've been being drawn to find a church become a member of and be a part of and first B has been definitely what the Lord has shown us The fellowship, people, and the leadership have been incredible to us as a married couple.
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And so yeah, that's kind of how we've been shown by the Lord to come and serve. So
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And Grant and I are excited to find opportunity or that for the Lord to lead us to opportunities to serve here in this body. So
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Excellent. Thank you. One other thought too. If you're going go on that men's snowmobile retreat, this is the guy that you try to follow-up the hill and then you get stuck and he'll he'll come help you too. So he's very good at helping in that aspect.
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But so for the covenant part of this, First Baptist Church would like to make a covenant with you in obedience to the Lord. Do you affirm before this congregation that Jesus Christ is your savior and Lord?
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We do. Yes. We do.
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Do you believe that God is adding you to this body of believers?
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Yes.
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Will you open your life to allow this congregation to minister to you as we serve Christ together?
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Yes.
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And now, for the congregation, from the response of these new members, do you believe that God is adding these people to this church? If so, please signify by saying we do. We We do. Do. Will each of you personally open your lives to these people to allow God to work through you to help them to become all that he has purposed them to be?
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If so, please signify by saying we will. We will. First John three sixteen says, this is how we know what love is. Jesus Christ laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, it closes his heart against him.
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How does God love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. Now, I would ask as a church family, let's bow our heads in a moment of prayer. Lord, we do thank you for adding to this body, to add to add, to draw Grant and Kristen to become a member of this this church and join this body of believers. Lord, we just ask for your your protection over them.
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Give them wisdom. Help this body to come around them and lord, help us all as a church to grow as we follow you. Lord, we thank you. We love you in Jesus name. Amen.
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Alright. What? Fantastic. Alright. Let's stand once again for one more song before the message.
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I am not skilled to understand what God has willed, what God has planned. I only know at his right hand
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Let's pray for the offering. Heavenly father, thank you that we can come here and worship you today. Would you please hear our song and be glorified by what we do today? You've rich, you've blessed us so richly. We know that we can't possibly repay you for all that you've done.
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But we humbly give today out of our surplus in faith and ask that you would multiply it and use it for your glory. In Jesus name, amen.
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Amen. Thank you, Lindsey. Well, good morning. Good morning. I see why he said what he said.
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A different look this morning. We've been going through a series in John, and we're going to be back there this morning. I am working on notes pages, and there's some of those back in the back if you didn't grab one coming in. So we're going to run through that review that we've been doing one more time, But I had an unusual week this week. A couple of different things happened that don't normally happen.
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For the last seventeen years, I have not played any athletic deal at all. I am so sore standing up here right now. I might not be quite as mobile as I usually am. Hopefully, I'll still be as vocal but I'm I played basketball Tuesday night and Thursday night and it is killing me. So, and it brings up lots of sports analogies in the sermon this time.
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Funny how that works. I got back to it but I was going to start off with when you do something like that. It you just can't help but go there. Glory days start coming back And I hear the Bruce Springsteen Glory Days song in my head and you start thinking about how fast they're going to go by. When I heard that song at 17, 18, 19, I thought whatever.
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Good grief. I know that I'm supposed to be able to jump up there and get that rebound and I can't get there. Glory days. You start thinking about that and this message will tie in with that in my mind. It does.
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It might just be because I'm so sore and because I'm the one that went through this this week. I'm going to try to help relate it to you though. Alright, let's start off with this though. I'm going to go through just a quick review series preaching my one of my seminary professors would say, is a lifeline to sanity because you don't have to spend time thinking about what it is you're going to preach. You just move to the next thing in the series.
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The Gospel of John is a great place to start. A simple good news about God's son. Do you remember the challenge that I gave the first Sunday in this series? It was pretty simple and not nearly as tough on the will and the morals as usual. I just said, please read it.
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Read the Gospel of John and it's about 27 pages long in the Pew Bibles, the Red Bibles out there. Are you all doing that? That's the next thing. Are you reading John? We've been going over the different the different parts of the book and it just helps me like I was saying, series preaching, Lifeline to Sanity.
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You think about things in a very methodical way but a a repeated application over time of God's word just bathing over us is going to be good for us. It's been great for me. I can't tell you how excited I am. I love the Bible and you all know that, I think but I have been just feeling like this week in particular. God's just been washing over and I've been understanding some things that I have not been understanding and I think that today's message is why and I hope that when you leave here today, you'll feel the same way.
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So, the prologue. The period of consideration, period of controversy is what we've gone through so far. Period of conflict is what we'll start on today, so we're halfway through basically. The rest of these things happen pretty quickly after that but the prologue, I've been saying this for several weeks. If you got the little note sheet out there, I've been calling it.
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I've been saying, you know, the universal scope. It's the opening credits of this drama. It shows the scope. It shows the major themes and it's going to repeat em and vary them throughout the book. They'll be driven home through repetition variation and John presents Jesus as logos, the divine word, the divine communication, God's exact image, and God's exact knowledge base, everything God is wrapped up in the man, Jesus Christ.
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So, God, logos, the word, light, and life. That's how he presents him. The period of consideration, John presents the evidence. He presents the evidence. He gives eyewitness testimony of actual people considering Jesus.
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He chose these particular stories from among many to accomplish his purpose and I've gone over his purpose every single time, multiple times. His purpose is in John twenty thirty one. These things I have written so that you may believe and believing have life in his name. Now, since I started almost every one of these service sermons has been evangelistic. Have you all noticed that?
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Almost everyone of em. Why do you think that is? Because you're a preacher. Yes, that's one of em. Why do you think it is though?
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Book of John. We're going through the book of John. That's right and John is presenting him first of all, big picture, Lagos, light, and life and then he says, look, this is how they considered him, his disciples, Nathaniel, his disciples, John, his disciples, Peter. This is how they considered him and then it gets to the other people, Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the nobleman, all of those. So, that period of consideration, John the Baptist, John's disciples, Nicodemus, Samaritan woman, the nobleman.
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Then we get to the period of controversy. Now, even during the period of controversy, it is still evangelistic because Jesus is repeating over and over and over where he's from, what he's here to do. He has come to give life. So two chapters that we went over highlight and develop the composition between two distinct groups. There was on the one side, there's Jesus and those who believed his claims and they regarded him as the Christ.
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And then on other there are those who disbelieved his claims, regarded him as an impostor. The man at the pool is a big deal. When we spent quite a bit of time on that a few Sundays back, the man being healed at the pool on the Sabbath is going to come up again today. That gave Jesus the teaching opportunity to start off with the claims and he made a lot of claims about his divinity, about his personhood too and then, Doug Wacha did the witnesses where he talked about the five witnesses that bear witness to him. We did that one all in one week.
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Good grief. We'll skip from there. But the period of conflict is what we're starting today. And on your note sheet if you have one, it describes the parallel development of belief and unbelief among the hearers of Jesus and the resultant clash of these opposing forces. You knew it had to come.
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You can see things building from the opening pages of John. You knew and the light did not comprehend him. You know, he his light shining in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend him. You know it's coming because John has already given us a little foreshadowing in that first part but this period of conflict is filled with mixed reactions on the part of the crowd and other people. The certainty of conviction.
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Jesus tells us about the certainty of conviction and then profound application. If you want to read along with me, you can turn to page number 1,057 in these red pew Bibles. And I'm going to go through first the mixed reactions. This might not be as linear as you think but it is. Mixed reactions in John.
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If you just look at the if you just look at John and you go through it, it's kind of confusing. If you're reading it just verse by verse in order, it's a little confusing because there's so much going on where people seem to be just bouncing ideas around and it's all kinds of strange ideas sometimes but we're going to walk through em. Verse one, the Jews were seeking to kill him. Starts off right away. It says that Jesus was traveling in Galilee.
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He was wandering around Galilee which is where he lived up near Capernaum but he was doing that because he was not going to go down to Judea where they were seeking to kill him. So, the Jews, Jewish leadership especially was seeking to kill him. Let's let me just walk through this. I'm going read through this. So, after this, Jesus went around Galilee purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life But when the Jewish feast of tabernacles was near, Jesus' brother said to him, you ought to leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples may see the miracles that you do.
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No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world. For even his own brothers did not believe in him. So, his brothers did not believe in him. The Jews were seeking to kill him.
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The feast of tabernacles that's mentioned right there is the biggest feast of the year in Judaism at this time. It was absolutely the top one. It's our Christmas now. It's the big deal. It's Downtown New York City at New Year's Eve.
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It's that kind of an environment. It's a big, big deal. It is a religious ceremony, but it's a celebratory celebration type religious ceremony. Alright, going on down from here, just seeing the the reactions from the crowd. Verse 11 says, now at the feast of the Jews, they're watching for him and asking, where is that man?
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So, they're looking for him. Verse 12 says, they were much muttering about him among the people. Verse 12, also says, some said, he's a good man. Some said, no, he's leading the people astray. He's an impostor.
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The Jews marveled at his teaching. These would be the the synagogue officials and Pharisees and the religious leaders. They are marveling at his teaching and right there is the place where Jesus speaks this universal truth. We'll come back to that when we get to that certainty of conviction I was talking about and while he was saying these things, the crowd thought he was crazy. They they mentioned it to him and then Jesus reasons with them to show that he's not crazy and also call back to the truth of the verses above.
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We'll get to that too. And then in '25 through '27, the conspiracy theorist emerged. This is one that I think is interesting. So, I want you to look at that. '25 through 27 says, at that point, some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, isn't this the man they're trying to kill?
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Here he's speaking publicly and they're not saying a word about him. Have the authorities? So this is the crowd. These are the under these are not the religious officials. These are the people that would be sitting in the pews or standing in the back.
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This is these are the folks who are saying, isn't this the guy that they're trying to kill? Here he is speaking publicly and they're not saying a word to him. Have the authorities, have they decided or concluded that he is the Christ? And then they start, well, I don't know about that. Can you hear this?
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Y'all haven't read this as many times this week as I have probably. I've read it over and over and over, and it's funny to see how different people react. And then it goes down below that, yet many people believed in him. The chief priest sent officers to arrest him. The crowd was muttering.
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The chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. The crowd is confused. And Jesus again right there at that place proclaims a universal truth. We'll come back to that. And then, this really is the prophet.
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Remember the prophet I mentioned last week? Moses said that God would raise up for you a prophet like me. This is the Christ and then detractors reason against those two. No, it couldn't be that. There's no way that's the case.
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And then John makes a summary statement. So, there was a division among the people over him. This is interesting to me. The officers that were sent to arrest Jesus said, man never spoke this way. Man never spoke this way.
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In different translations translated different ways so that you can come, what is this one? It says, it says here, no one ever spoke this way the way this man does. The actual Greek on that is so simple. It says, man never spoke this way. Well, the Pharisees were further frustrated.
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The they cursed their own crowd for the ignorance. Nicodemus generically defended Jesus and then he's rebuffed by those grumpy naysayers. The man never spoke this way. This is a good segue back into away from the mixed reaction of the crowd. We could have just gone with John's summary statement.
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There's mixed reaction among them. I'm not even going to start to read all of that. That's the definition for anthropos, man. It's to distinguish man from beings of a different order. You would say man and beast, man and angels, men and angels.
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But in this particular instance, it is to distinguish him to distinguish man from a being of a different order, God or Christ. Those guys were seeing. Now, these were the officers that were sent to arrest Jesus and they were seeing him as something different from man. Now, he was fully man but they were recognizing his divinity. Now, back to the clear universal truths.
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I hope this is where the the profound kicks in. Verse 17 is profound if you catch it. In the Pew Bible on ten fifty eight, top of the page, John seven seventeen says, if anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Willing is the prerequisite of knowing, says Piper. I listened to what he had to say about this verse after I kind of walked my way all through it and prepared all the way through it.
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And he said, this struck me so hard when I was in college that willing is the prerequisite for knowing, because he was trying his best to fill his head up with everything he could get his hands on, reading every commentary, reading every piece of scripture, down, chasing down all the cross references, and trying to just fill his head up with it. And then he saw, you know, and he when you're in seminary, you're around some people that study the Bible but don't really believe it. Willing is the prerequisite of knowing. And in my paraphrase, it'd be being willing to do God's will is the first step in understanding God's word. If anyone chooses, that's an act of your volition.
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It's an act of your will. If you choose to do God's will, you will find out whether the teaching comes from God or whether it's just a guy speaking on his own authority. That's still the case. That is a clear scriptural universal generally true statement. And in this context, Jesus is saying it and it's about him, but you can still use that for preachers standing up front.
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You can use it for people who are public figures. There's some people who are really, really in fact, the mixed reactions of the crowd, all the questions that the crowd had. If you look at that, you can see that people were flocking to him and looking for him. But why? Were they really seeking after God's will or were they just looking because he was this big figure, big public figure?
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From the different reactions, oh, I'm for him. Oh, I'm against him. That's what reminded me of the the sports stuff. You can see people that don't live anywhere near, you know, Denver or San Diego. And they are just decked out head to foot in either blue and orange or blue and yellow, and will almost come to fisticuffs because they've decided that this is their team.
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That makes sense? It's a mob mentality. We kind of want to okay. I think I'll yeah. I'll go with them for a while.
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Why not? His brothers didn't even believe in it. Verse 18, I think sheds light on the rest of the things. So the truth that he's talking about is about glory. It's about where you place glory.
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The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true and in him, there is no falsehood. Jesus is speaking generally right here too. He could have said, but I, he had said it over and over and over. I come from the father and since I'm representing the father, but he left this one general too.
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This applies also in other places. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory. We even still use the term authority when someone has become an authority on something. If you're looking for if CNN or Fox News is looking for an authority, sometimes they call Jackson Hole and they call a guy in a buckskin coat because he's an authority on the law. He's one of these guys.
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He is an authority. But he's seeking, I'm not spit I kind of did spell somebody out particularly, but I just use an example. He's seeking not someone else's, but his own glory. It's self exaltation rather than God exaltation. It's about God's glory, not our glory.
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Is there anyone who does not, by nature, seek self exaltation? No. This one's a really hard one to preach, because when you're standing right here, you want to do a good job. Right, Ed? You want to do a good job but you don't want to do such a good job that people say like they said to Jesus, wow.
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Wonderful. Isn't this teaching great? But what they're really doing is a left handed compliment because he's never been educated. How did this happen? His brothers didn't believe in him.
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That's what made Jesus so different. Jesus was not seeking his self exaltation. Philippians says, that because he humbled himself, not because he exalted himself, because he humbled himself, Then God exalted him, made him different from his brothers. When his brothers were saying in those first few verses, they were deriding him. I started thinking about the different mixed responses.
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One of them is acceptance, and another one is rejection, and we think of those two generally. But another one is confusion, there were 19 question marks in there, 19 different question marks. That was the prevailing thing. I'm not sure exactly but I think this, but it can't be that. Acceptance, rejection, confusion, and derision and his brothers start off with derision.
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They're deriding him. They're making fun of him. They're saying, hey, come on up to Jerusalem. This is Galilee. This isn't the big show.
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Come on up to Jerusalem. Come down to Judea. This is the Super Bowl. This is downtown Times Square. This is the big deal.
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This is the biggest feast of the year. If you're doing all these miracles out here and feeding people and healing people and whatever they say you're doing, come down here and do it where it's important. If they had a group of people that were talking about making him king, hey, if you get to Judea during that time, you're going have all the support you need to be lifted up as king. But Jesus was not after that. What he answered him was, my hour has not fully come.
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From the Pharisees, when they were sitting around, when finally he did go down. Finally, he did go down and he said, he started teaching and they said, wow, how in the world does this man do this? How is he teaching with such eloquence? He's never been educated. What they were saying is, I wish I could do that.
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I wish I could do that because everybody's projecting what they would like and when I said that up there, is there anyone who does not by nature seek self exaltation? No, there's not. Jesus is the only one. But this chapter marks a change in the way that Jesus dealt with people. He had a very clear certainty throughout his whole his whole ministry.
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He knew who he was and he knew what he was to do. Jesus was different from the crowd there in that aspect. He's different from us in that aspect. Jesus himself, if you look up at verse 16, had just deflected. When they said, how did this man get such learning without having study?
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Jesus answered, my teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. And that opens the door for if anyone chooses to do God's will and he did. He had to choose it daily. He chose it before he came into the world and he chose it daily, every day, minute by minute, hour by hour.
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He continually chose to do the will of God and he knew and he had a certainty of conviction and he share, as he share in that certainty of conviction, he knew that those guys did not have the Holy Spirit working on them. He knew that that was not something that had taken place yet. He knew that his hour to be glorified had not yet happened. But he was practicing exactly what he was preaching. I want to get down to verse 24.
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So, let's just read straight on through from 17. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he'll find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does does so to gain honor for himself but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth. There's nothing false about him. Has not Moses given you the law?
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Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me? Now, we've heard in John several times that they were trying to kill him, that there was a plot working to kill him. But the crowd didn't know that, the crowd at large. It was mostly the religious leaders that were seeking to kill him.
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And so the crowd answers, who is trying to kill you? You're demon possessed. That's the way we would say, you're crazy. What in the world? Jesus said to him, I've done one, I did one miracle.
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I did one thing. I did one miracle and you all were astonished. Yet because yet, because Moses gave you circumcision, though it actually didn't come from Moses but from the patriarchs. You circumcise a child on the Sabbath. The Jews considered circumcision because it was ordained of God and it was decreed of God that that should happen on the eighth day.
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They considered the circumcision rite to be the perfection of that baby. That was making that baby whole and perfect was that process, that procedure. And they did it. If the baby was born on Sunday, the next Sunday, they consider that eight days, he was going to be circumcised. So And that was one of the things that was kind of an exception to the rule about the Sabbath.
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Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? He made that paralytic in five, chapter five, whole on the Sabbath. Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment. To me, the stop judging by appearances, it's a command, and make a right judgment. It's a command.
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And it points back to the how can you make a right decision? How can you make a right judgment? It must be based on what? Truth. It must be based on truth.
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If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own authority. Does that tie together for you all? Are you seeing the connection? There is no way that we can make a righteous judgment outside of looking to God for the answer. There's no we don't have that capacity for righteous judgment without looking to God for the answer.
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And as Piper was saying, if anyone that willing is the prerequisite of knowing. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking among authority. Being willing to do God's will is the first step in understanding his word. The profound application comes out of that. This is not a flashy thing at all.
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You hear about gentle Jesus meek and mild, and you can see this attitude that he had all along. And he was gaining ground. He's gaining disciples. He's gaining popularity but he was never doing anything that was terribly flashy. You know, Jesus could have said right there at the feast of booths when he's teaching in the synagogue and they'd say, wow, this teaching is so great.
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He could say, I am the son of God. That's why. I am completely divine. You won't understand it? Two thousand years, you'll still be discussing it.
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There are three of us. Me, the father, and the Holy Spirit, we're it, the trinity. One God, just like you say, but three of us. He could've said that. He could've started to explain it completely but he knew that he was not yet glorified.
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That was not God's plan. He knew that it was coming. He knew that he had to go through the humility. He had to go through the humiliation. He had to go through death on the cross to secure for us.
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The possibility of communion with God. So, he wasn't to that point yet but the gentle Jesus, I said, this chapter marks a place where Jesus starts to stand out more and more. It is the period of conflict. Belief and unbelief are starting to take sides and they're starting to throw stones. They're starting to get angry with each other and they're starting to get really athletic, competitive.
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They're starting to pick their sides. Swear their allegiance is it, SEC South, this is where I'm from. You got to be either one or the other. You cannot cheer for both Georgia and Alabama. You can't do it.
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Just can't be done. You can't sit on the fence. No one is neutral. You've got to pick a side and that's what's happening during this period of conflict and it's going to be the next two sermons that we go through. If y'all want to go ahead and read up, it'll be from this chapter eight up through middle of chapter 11.
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That's where we're going in the next two Sundays and I'll probably just pick something out of there but it's amazing to me this week especially how I've read this over and over. Different versions because it's always been confusing to me. The clarity is coming though. That's a big thing. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he'll find out whether my teaching comes from God, whether I speak on my own.
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He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself. This is a question not of the head. It's not a head understanding. It's a heart issue. It's moral, not mental.
53:31
To be God willed and not self willed. I do want to walk on from here though to get on down further and I'm just going to read this text. Then Jesus still teaching the temple courts cried out. Yes, you know me and you know where I'm from. I'm not here on my own but I'm but he who sent me is true.
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You don't know me but I know him. You don't know him but I know him because I am from him and he sent me and at that moment, they tries to seize him but no one laid a hand on him because his time had still not come. Still many put their faith in him and they said, when the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than these? The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priest and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
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Jesus said, I'm with you for only a short time, then I'll go to the one who sent me. You will come look for me, you will not find me, and where I am you cannot come. The Jews said to one another, where does this man intend to go that we can't find him? Will he go out from our people, live scattered among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? What did he mean when he said, you will look for me but you will not find me.
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Where I am, you cannot come. On the last and greatest day of the feast, this is what I was trying to get to. On the last and greatest day of the feast. Now, the feast of tabernacles was a the the big celebration and the last day, they would take water from the Pool Of Siloam, pick it up in big golden pots, and go and pour it out. It was a like a drink offering.
55:00
They would pour it out on the last day of the feast. And on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and it's the same the the cried out that I read just a minute ago. It's the same verb. They cried out and he stood up and spoke in a loud voice. It means he shouted this.
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We think of Jesus being gentle Jesus making mild. Usually, blessed are the peacemakers, that sort of thing. He stood up and he cried out in a loud voice. If anyone of you is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, come to me and drink.
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As the scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him. And John explains to us that by that, he meant the spirit, the Holy Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later received. Up to that time, the spirit had not yet been given since Jesus had not been glorified. And even upon hearing those words, when he stood up at the right time, have you ever gone to one of those big festivals or gone to a big basketball game, football game, whatever? It's been the thing you've been thinking about for weeks.
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Okay. November, you start playing. We're going to New York City. We're going to stand in Times Square. We're going to watch the ball drop.
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And then when you get to the end, the greatest and last day, yeah, that's cool, but when it's over, you're left and it's empty. It's a ritual. It's something that we do over and over. Well, the Jews have been doing that ritual, the Feast of Tabernacles for a long long time. They're celebrating Moses' getting out of Egypt, getting the people out of Egypt, striking the rock and having water flow from the rock.
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This is all pointing towards Christ. This is all pointing to Christ. And when Christ is saying to his brothers in the beginning of that chapter, I'm not going to go up right now because my time has not fully come. I'm not going to go this hour. I'm going to go, but I'm not going to go like you're thinking.
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So when he goes up, he says this. If any of you are still thirsty, if this ritual has left you empty, it's pointing towards me. Ritual is not what we're after. Let me look for something just a second. The appeal of Jesus for belief brought different responses from the different groups.
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There was there was applause, division, open hostility, and hesitant faith. There was ignorant adulation on one side and ignorant criticism on the other. When Jesus stood up and cried out, it's amazing how gracious he is. When he stood up and cried out, it says, on hearing these words, some of the people said, surely this man is the prophet. Others said, he is the Christ.
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Still others ask, how can the Christ come from Galilee? They start arguing again but it's like, I know there's a hint of, I know there's truth there. I know there's something there and all of this that Jesus has been preaching and teaching this whole time has been almost veiled and he's telling them that they're not understanding it. The reason that I don't understand it is because they're seeking self. They're seeking for their own.
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They're not seeking God's glory. What's the chief end of man? There aren't very many Presbyterians in here, are they? What's the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever.
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That's one of those catechism things. It's a confession, confessions of faith. That and I think that we would agree with it. I don't think it's something that's just Presbyterian and just whatever. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever Because it really is about aligning our will, your will with God's will so that he gets the glory.
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I would say that today, this has been my prayer all week. Pray that he would change. Pray that he would change you to where you're not looking out for self as much as you're looking out for God's will. Strive to glorify him and enjoy him and start today. It's heart obstruction not head obstruction.
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I didn't think this was gonna be this heavy for y'all today. I really felt like it was gonna be almost light lightweight and encouraging. Renzo, would you all come on back up? The invitation today is to just take that seriously. I know that sometimes we look at the Bible and we think, oh, I know I should read my Bible more.
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And just kind of slump shoulder and go, I know I should do it more. But I don't understand it. I don't get it. It's not a mental problem. The knowing you should read your Bible more, if you feel like it's God's will for you to read your Bible more, and you choose to do God's will, he will start making it more and more clear.
1:00:00
Where that teaching comes from? Where that truth come from? I know that everyone in the other servants in this past in this series has been evangelistic but we're getting to some stuff coming up soon that is going to be heart level stuff because once we get past this period of conflict and the division is clearly drawn, we're going to go into crisis and when we get to crisis, that's the hour. Jesus's hour is coming. It's the hour of the cross.
1:00:25
It's the hour of the garden. When Jesus has the opportunity, not my will but yours be done, lord. That's what we're getting to. So, y'all might have all felt really, really comfortable for the past few weeks because I know that the majority of the people that are sitting in here right now claim Christ. I know that most of you are conscientious Christian believers and you love Jesus and I know that.
1:00:49
So And when I stand up in the front and I give a strong evangelistic message, it's not to say, I don't think you're a Christian. I'm going to keep preaching until you come down this aisle. No. It's the text. And what John is moving us through, he's shared and shared and shared and shared and shared the gospel and then he's going to tell us, this is where it is and the conference of Jesus is for believers.
1:01:10
That's what's coming up. We're going to be in the upper room in just a couple of weeks. So, I would say right now, if you would, where you're standing, we'll start singing but where you're standing, where you're sitting, would you stand? And let's pray together and then he'll crank up. God, I pray that you would use us.
1:01:25
I know that we are believers. I know that there are some here who may not be lord. I pray that you would use those in this room that are to show your will to those who are not. God, I pray that you would be with us. We give you honor and glory and praise.
1:01:41
We wanna lift you up. Keep us from taking any credit for anything you deserve. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.
1:04:02
Let every creature in the sea and every flying bird. Let every mountain, every field, the valley of the earth. Let all
1:05:24
Christ, would y'all come back? The benediction today, wow, the benediction today is going to be just an acapella song, Blessed Be the Tithe that Binds and if y'all would, just we're starting a new tradition here. I love these folks. I mean, but I want y'all to get a chance. If you don't know em, come by and see em and when we get through the blessed be the tithe that binds, would y'all just mind kind of following by and welcoming them into the church?
1:05:54
They're here already. I'm nervous. I know. Stinker. But if y'all would, we're going to sing blessed be the tie that binds.
1:06:03
Blessed be he the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love the fellowship of kindred minds is like to above. Amen. And since y'all just sang an acapella song on the fly, right now, starting downstairs is the first choir practice. It's going to be for the 11:00 services, the traditional but if you love to sing and just can't get away from it, Bob Wells and a bunch of other folks will be glad to see you downstairs. So, thank you Grant and Kristen for joining up, buddy.
1:06:48
We love y'all. Okay. Dismissed.