The Reality of Jesus

Introduction

Good morning. We even had to have the like you this morning, so good problem. Welcome everyone. Thank you for joining with us. We have a lot of our own number traveling for the holiday weekend, but we also have a lot of visitors here for the holiday weekend.

Afterwards so we can introduce ourselves and get to know you a little better. Good to have you here. just a few moments will be starting the worship service, starting with the scripture reading, but before we do that, and then and then John will be leading us and scene. But before we do that, I’d like to read from Psalm 42, if you’d like to turn there and read along with me, the forty-second song.

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. When I when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, Where is your God? These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with a voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you in despair, O my soul, and why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him for the help of his presence. O my God, my soul is in despair within me.

Therefore I remember you for the land of the Jordan and for the peaks of Hermon and from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the sound of your waterfalls, all your breakers and your waves have rolled over me. The Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and his song will be with me in the night. A prayer to the God of my life. I will say to God my rock, Why you forgot me? Why do I go in mourning because of the oppression of the of the enemy? As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me. Well, they say to me all day long, Where is your God? Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance and my God. Good morning. The scripture reading today will be from Romans chapter 14, verses 16 through 19.

Romans 14, starting in verse 16, reading all the way through verse 19. Therefore, do not let your good be spoken of as evil, for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who serves Christ in these things is acceptable to God and approved by men. Therefore, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another.

This will help with, first of all, it’s beautiful hearing it that way, but also helps with the overall dynamics of the song. Our first song will be magnificent, and it will be on the slides only. If it’s convenient, please stand as we sing this.

My soul every joy, my soul, my skill rejoice in lay soul, I save my save, my soul, my spirit, my soul has in my sickness, my soul, I swear.

We’ll sing Lord be glorified, and this will be on the slides only.

Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we come to you now, as your people here at Decker Prairie. We ask that you would be with us as a group, as Christians, as brothers and sisters in Christ, that you would help us to love one another, to esteem each other more than ourselves. Help us to show Christ to each other in our daily actions. Help us to put you first in our life and remember that the cost that has been paid for our freedom, but also for our brothers and sisters. Help us to glorify you in the way we live our daily lives, but the way we also interact with each other here. Help us to remember always that you want us to love each other and put each other above each the other.

We thank you for showing us in your word this, and we pray that you’ll help us to do so here. Be with us as we begin this service. Help us to honor you, to love you, and to glorify you as we go forward. Nice son’s name, we pray. Amen.

At this time, we will offer an opportunity to give back as we’ve prospered. If you’re visiting here today, thank you so much for coming. But please do not feel obligated to give. We would ask that instead that you please fill out a visitor’s card and put it in the contribution tray as we pass it. we would love to have a record of your visit here today. We also have two boxes in the foyer for your convenience to give. And we also have this PayPal address at PayPal at Decrepari.org, which you see here on the screen. Let’s pray.

Help us to never take them for granted. And we pray, Lord, that the funds that are given and here today are used according to your will. And fill this church and its leaders with your wisdom and guide their hands before the work for them. Amen.

And before his lesson, we’ll sing A Shield About Me. This will be arranged just a little bit different than we normally sing it. We’re going to start out with the Sopranos for the first eight measures, and then we’re going to add the tenors after that. And then on the first hallelujahs, everyone will be in there for the remainder of the song. So Sopranos, eight measures, and thank you for Jacob for putting all this together. So basically read what’s on the screen, and this should go flawless. So if it’s convenient, let’s stand as we sing this.

You are my glory, my she That’s pretty hard to follow. Amazing blending our voices together in praise of God. That’s why we’re here this morning. That’s what worship does. It takes us to a place that we aren’t other places. We can’t do this the way we’re doing this here together. As we blend our voices and we praise God and we honor him, and it really takes us to a new realm, a new plane. That’s really what the Hebrew writer is telling us in Hebrews chapter twelve. When we are worshiping the Father with reverence and awe, and we’re coming together as his people, there’s just something different about that moment. It’s like a picture of reality. It’s a portion of heaven on earth that we experience when we are able to lift our voices in that way together.

And so I commend you for that, for being here this morning and worshiping together as God’s people. I want to spend some time in the Gospel of John this morning. I have been reading through John, or at least trying to, and I’ve for the most part gotten stuck in chapters 5 through 11, kind of just revisiting them over and over and over again. And there’s just so much depth. I’ve already been in that process, and then Bill Olson did a talk on the Lord’s Supper from John 6, talked about some of the depth and how that relates even to what we’re doing when we partake of body and the blood as a communion and how influential the words of Jesus are in that way. And so this morning, there’s so many different themes within John’s Gospel, even in this section, but I want to focus on three primary concepts.

The first is the effect of the I am statements that Jesus makes. You’re probably familiar with those seven I am statements. Maybe many of you could even just recite them right now. It’s one of the key aspects of the Gospel of John. But as I continue to read through the gospel, there’s certain things that stuck out to me that I just hadn’t really thought much about before. It’s interesting the dynamic between Jesus and the people he’s interacting with. But there’s this frequent mention, second of all, of division among the people. They are constantly divided. As Jesus is speaking and teaching and acting and healing, the people are continually divided about him. And then the third of these, which is really where some of my thoughts began really months ago, is about the dishonest rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders.

And I’ll just sort of get ahead of myself with this morning and tell you where my mind is, and that is in our culture, the rejection of Jesus so often, at least in the past, some of this is actually changing in some ways, even in dominant culture, was kind of an elitist sort of attitude. Elite people, the intelligent, they don’t really believe in Jesus, they don’t accept him. Right? There’s there’s too much evidence in various places, and this is sort of the way it’s portrayed or pictured. And I want us to see, even in the Gospel of John, that the reason Jesus is rejected is not because of that. He is rejected for many other reasons, but it’s not intellectual. It’s not about evidence, it’s about many other things.

And so I want to get into these texts and look through this just a little bit this morning as we think about Jesus and his testimony and the way he argues about who he is and the claims that he makes, and then how people have to react to that. And that’s another element of this. There is a reaction. There’s really no middle ground with Jesus. He doesn’t allow for it. He doesn’t allow for you to kind of hang out in the middle somewhere and just say, I don’t know. Either you believe him or you don’t. It’s one or the other. And because of that, as Jesus is teaching and he’s proclaiming who he is, and he’s making these statements, it’s just naturally bringing about division among these people.

1. There Was a Division Among the People

Now, there’s all sorts of statements about this in the Gospel of John, but there’s three really clear ones. In I put them up there on the screen for you in John 7:43, 9:16, and then 10, 19 through 21. But what I want to do, especially with the first one, is sort of back trace this to where it begins. The other two are a little bit easier to see. But in chapter 7 in verse 43, I want to read this text. We’re going to start in verse 37. I’m going to read down through 52, and then we’re going to work our way back to where this all began. It says, On the last day of the feast, this is the feast of Booths, a feast of great anticipation, by the way, feasts in the Gospel of John are also a structure by which he builds his gospel.

Jesus is the fulfillment of all these feasts. And so on the last day of this great feast, he gets up and he says, Anyone who thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. When they heard these words, some of the people said, This really is the prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, Why did you not bring him? The officers answered, No one ever spoke like this man. The Pharisees answered them, Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed. Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? They replied, Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.

So embedded within this text, it’s really all three of those themes. But I want to work backwards from this and see, Jesus makes this statement at the last day of this feast, and the people are struggling with this, but this is not the first time they’ve been struggling. He’s had this whole encounter in John 6, some of which Bill read a few weeks ago, if you remember about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. And even his own disciples are troubled by this. And we’re told many of them left and no longer followed him, followed him. They’re muttering about him among the people, it says in chapter 7 and verse 12. While some said, he is a good man. Others said, No, he’s leading the people astray.

Yet for the fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly of him. Verse 13. Drop down to verse 26. They’re saying, Is this man the Christ? Right? This one the authorities are seeking to kill. He’s here speaking openly. They say nothing to him. Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from. Now I hope you notice there’s already some discrepancies and some illogical thinking in the few verses I’ve read. One place they’re saying, we don’t know where he came from. The other one they’re saying, doesn’t he come, he doesn’t come from Galilee? And doesn’t he come from Bethlehem? And so they’re very confused, right?

2. I Am: There's Nothing in Between

Which is part of the picture that I want us to see here. But I want us to understand that ultimately, as you work this back, it comes back to the I am statement that Bill talked about in his talk. I am the bread of life. They were seeking after physical bread, and he says, You’re looking for the wrong thing. I’m the bread of life. I’m the answer. This is what Jesus is telling them. You need to eat me and drink my blood. And of course, this then challenges their way of thinking. Jesus continually is challenging their perspective. He’s challenging their ideas about truth. He just does it over and over and over. And as he does so, the people are very divided and they don’t know what to think.

And so we’re told after this, many of his disciples turn back and no longer walked with him. Verse 66 of chapter 6. So one thing I want to point out, we’re not going to look at all these, we just can’t do it. But these statements about division are very connected to the I am statements. And that’s significant because it’s Jesus claiming who he is, most powerfully, that he is deity, that he has come from God, that he’s speaking truth, and as he’s speaking truth, and he’s declaring who the people are struggling. They’re divided. I also want us to understand as Jesus is making these claims. There’s two ways, right? He says, I am the bread of life. If you don’t eat the bread of life, what happens?

You die. I am the light of the world. If you don’t walk with the light, you’re in darkness. There’s no two ways, other ways than these two. That’s it. There’s either light or there’s darkness. I am the door. If we don’t enter through the door, there is no entrance. I’m the good shepherd, he says. The other alternative is thieves and robbers. I am the resurrection, which again, if we deny that is death. I am the way and the truth and the life. To deny that means confusion and falsehood, and again, death. I am the true vine. 15 in verse 1. The alternative is to be burnt up, to be destroyed. We have to understand there’s nothing in between. The claims of Jesus are that strong. They are that bold.

Either you accept it and you believe it, or you are completely on the other side. There’s no hanging out in the middle anywhere. It’s either faith or it’s rejection. And so these I am statements then are very difficult for people to digest and take in when he says, I’m the bread of life, that people have a hard time with this, and then ultimately they’re divided over this. But even I am the light of the world. Seems rather tame. Actually, it’s within the context where we started in chapter 7. If you jump to chapter 9, that’s where this continuation happens here. He says, as long as I’m in the world, verse 5, I am the light of the world. Jump to verse 16. And some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.

But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them.

3. Truth Draws a Line

Right? He heals a guy in John 5. A paralytic. He says, Rise up and walk, take your bed. And of course, he does it on the Sabbath. And so the rulers are really upset about this. And then he feeds 5,000 people from just a few scraps of food in chapter 6. And this context here in John 9, where we just read, he heals a blind man. And again, they say, well, he did it on the Sabbath. So he must not be from God. He is a sinner. It’s amazing that a guy can actually be healing people of their diseases and be doing all sorts of good things to help people, and yet they still find a way to criticize him and to portray him as a sinner.

Isn’t that amazing? There is nothing more true that has ever existed in the entire world than what Jesus is saying right here in John 5 through 11. There’s nothing more true than any of this. And yet the people are divided and they won’t listen. Amazing. They’re watching this guy raise up paralytics and heal the blind. And in John 11, he raises Lazarus from the dead. And even in that moment, when he comes out of the grave, it says, some believed, but you know what some people did? They ran to the Pharisees and they told on him. Amazing. And then there’s the next one in chapter 10. He has just claimed that he’s the door and nobody can come in except through him, essentially. He says, I am the good shepherd.

And he says a variety of things, again, that challenges their way of thinking. There’s other sheep that I have that I’m going to bring in. I think he’s predicting here the Gentile inclusion. It’s not going to just be ethnic Jews anymore. Eventually there’s going to be others that get brought into this. They don’t like that. They usually don’t like that. And that’s true in all the gospels. And verse 19, there was again a division among the Jews because of these words. Many of them said, He has a demon, is insane. Why listen to him? Others said, These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind? Some people are seeing. They’re still connected to this idea of the healing of the blind man.

They realize that a guy can’t heal somebody. A guy can’t raise up a paralytic and give sight to the blind, something that doesn’t happen unless he’s actually from God. But the perspective of some of these is so skewed that they’re finding a problem with Jesus, even in the midst of these miraculous, truly miraculous events. Man, I just, I hope, I would hope that if I’m witnessing someone going around raising up paralytics and healing the blind, and ultimately raising someone from the dead, that I would just say, what you say is truth. Who am I to stand against you? Which is sort of the point Jesus is making in places like John 7. I mean, he’s he’s saying, I testify who I am, the Father testifies, he’s the one who sent me.

Right? And he’s going through this kind of logical progression about their own law and all that, and it’s a little bit twisted and difficult, particularly since we don’t follow the old law. But this is what he’s doing. He’s arguing with him logically and saying, You’re denying me, you’re rejecting me, but it’s not because of what I’m doing, it’s because you’re hard of heart. You don’t want to listen. You don’t listen to the words of God, and so you won’t listen to the word of me. You’re not going to listen to what I’m telling you. And he states this over and over in John 7, and they just continually will not listen to what he’s telling them. And so the ultimate reality is that truth draws a line.

4. His Rejection Is Not on Sincere Grounds

And you fall on one side or the other. Either you listen to the truth, either you take Jesus and you accept him and you receive him for who he is, or despite who he is and despite what he’s done, you decide not to accept him. Those are the options. And this is what Jesus presents to them over and over and over. In this division, and these overlap, there’s a lot of what I would call manipulation and propaganda from those who are in control. And that sort of factors into this, and I want to break this into a few different segments of this idea. But what John’s trying to help us see about Jesus is that his rejection is not on sincere grounds. It’s not being done because it’s the most legitimate thing, or the evidence backs it up, or anything like that.

Prejudice, due to stubborn pride, envy, hypocrisy, jealousy. These are actually the reasons why Jesus is being rejected. I don’t promise to follow this list, but I wanted to go ahead and put this up here for you, maybe for the kids, if they want to write some of these downs. I know you take notes. And you get frustrated if I move too quickly. So I’ll try to linger here for a little bit with this chart. But I’m going to break it down maybe a little bit different way as I work through these, and I want to read some of these to you. Because I want you to be impressed with the reality of the situation, which is they are not confused about Jesus and what he’s doing.

They simply don’t want to do it. And so they’re finding a variety of ways to get around this. So in John 7, where we just read earlier, one of the reasons I read this text is I wanted to work a little bit here with what’s going on. You can see the arrogance of what’s taking place with these rulers on a couple different accounts. They’re trying to trap Jesus. I mean, this has been going on for quite a while. Back all the way in chapter 5, when he healed this man, it says in verse 16, and this is why the Jews were persecuting Jesus. They’re persecuting him. Right? Because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. I mean, how ridiculous is that. He takes a guy who has been sick, infirmed for 38 years.

I mean, shouldn’t you rejoice and celebrate that this guy has been healed and great things have happened to his life, and all they can do is say, He broke our Sabbath law. He must not be from God. And so they persecute this guy. That’s the kind of people they are. So in verse 32, they hear the crowd muttering things about him, and they send officers to arrest him. And there’s some interaction here that leads up to where I read earlier. And the people are confused. You know, some of them think this guy’s got to be the prophet, right? The one that Moses talked about in Deuteronomy 18. He’s got to be the Messiah, the Christ. Others are saying, no, you know, he’s not to come from Galilee, they’re uninformed.

And then there’s this interaction when the officers come back, again, impressive. No one has ever spoken like this guy.

I just want to stop for a second and say, no one will transform my life or your life except Jesus Christ. And whatever truths we find in the world are coming from that which is true in the creation of God. People can find truthful things, and all the self-help books out there and all that, actually, a lot of those things are tied to wisdom in scripture. But the way you actually transform your life is through Jesus Christ. That’s the only end, that’s the only place we’ll find purpose. And there’s no purpose outside of Jesus. He is the only way. This is the claim he makes. Victor Frankel, who was a prisoner of war, he was in a concentration camp, a super intelligent guy. He ended up writing this book called The Search for Meaning, Man’s Search for Meaning.

The ultimate answer there is kind of in the title. The search for meaning is meaning itself, its purpose. And if you have no purpose, you have nothing. And what the gospels are testifying, and what Jesus is saying is that He is the purpose. He’s the answer. And so without him, whatever tricks and gimmicks and things we come up with, they’re all going to end up in emptiness. They’re never going to actually solve the problem. And these guys hear this. They can sense it. When they hear him teach, and they’re not the first ones. Remember, there’s others who said this guy teaches with authority. He’s different than the scribes and the Pharisees and the lawyers. I mean, they know the law and they say stuff about the law, but no one speaks with authority like this guy.

Something different about him. And now listen to how the authorities respond. Have you also been deceived? No, not interested. They’re not interested in what he said. It isn’t. Well, what did he say that was different? How is he so different than other things you’ve heard before? They don’t care. This is not an intellectual pursuit. They’re not interested in truth. And this is what I want us to see. They’re immediately skeptical. They’re immediately judgmental. They’re not interested in what anybody has experienced. They’re only interested in their own control and their own power. So the question is, well, what did he say that’s different? I mean, what is so powerful about this guy and what he’s saying? That’s not the question. It’s an immediate judgment. Have you also been deceived?

And then there’s a false appeal to authority, right? Which is a logical fallacy. Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees, have any of us believed this? I mean, these are the Pharisees speaking. Have any of us believed this guy? But this crowd, this is condescension, but this crowd that does not know the law is a curse. These people don’t know anything. They know what they heard. They know what they experienced listening to Jesus. But the authorities are not interested at all. But then this is just funny, right? Because they’ve already claimed the authorities and the Pharisees don’t believe him. And then like Nicodemus is like, hey, are we gonna judge this guy with actually not giving him any kind of hearing, without listening to what he says?

Are we just gonna judge him unfairly? And they’re saying, oh, Nicodemus, I mean, you’re a respected member of the council. You’re right. We should slow down, we should think more carefully about this. No. They immediately go to ad hominem. They start criticizing its character assassination. Are you from Galilee too? See and search that no prophet arises from Galilee. Error, that’s wrong. There are multiple incorrect, fallacious arguments in what they say here. Jonah’s from Galilee, probably Nahum as well. But even if they’re just talking about the Christ, the Messiah, they don’t even understand where Jesus came from. He was born in Bethlehem, as all of you know. And so I want to come back to that here in just a few moments. The idea here is just outright arrogance, pride.

They think they know better than these people who have been with Jesus. They’re not interested in listening at all. And then there is just lies and condescension. You know, we’re the authorities. We know better. The Pharisees don’t believe this guy. The scribes don’t believe him. Who are you, little people, to think that you can believe in Jesus. I just want us to understand there’s nothing intellectual about that at all. There’s no appeal to evidence. There’s no looking for good answers. All it is condescending to people, propaganda, putting pressure to try to make them not believe what they actually experienced and saw. This is the method of the rulers who are facing Jesus. Then there is just the false accusations, the assumptions, the things that are completely wrong.

5. We Know This Man Is a Sinner

I mean, again, John 9, amazing text. There’s so much here. We can’t even begin to get into the depths of it. But I just want to point out a couple things from this text about how these people work who are not interested in truth. They have already agreed that anyone who confesses Jesus is going to be put out of the synagogue. Already agreed. They’re not interested in discussion and dialogue. They don’t want answers. They don’t care about truth. They have already decided that they’re not going to listen to these people. And if you claim Jesus, you’re going to be put out of the synagogue. So as they’re questioning this man who was once blind, but Jesus gave sight to, and they don’t believe, and they keep questioning, and it’s undeniable.

They want to ask his parents, and his parents, they say, hey, he’s of age, ask him. And here’s why. They said this because they feared the Jews. Not because they are interested in truth. That’s not why they say any of this. Because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. And they’re running a propaganda campaign all about this. Pressuring everybody to not confess that Jesus is the Christ. Don’t listen to him. He’s leading the people astray. And then notice verse 24. They call the man, so they talk to the parents. Parents won’t talk because they’re afraid. They’re afraid to get in trouble. Okay? So they get the man back and who was blind.

They say, hey, tell us again what happened. Give glory to God. See, they pose this as like false, sanctimonious Christianity, right? This is like do the right thing. Act with glory. Fulfill your will with God and tell us the right thing. We know this man is a sinner. That’s where they start. Presumption. Again, nothing intellectual about this. No concern with evidence. No concern with actually finding truth. This is about assassinating Jesus’ character and his literal body eventually. Despite the evidence, despite what has actually been said. Love the blind man. Just a remarkable person. He’s the guy in John 5, I don’t know what to think about him. He’s healed. He goes away, Jesus encounters him later, and then he goes and rats on Jesus. So it’s kind of strange.

But the John 9 guy is awesome. He stands up and he speaks truth to these hypocritical leaders. These guys who aren’t interested in truth at all. They’re just out to get Jesus. And they say, hey, we know this guy’s a sinner. That’s where they start. He says, whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know that though I was blind, now I see. Pretty simple. That’s the reality. That’s the truth. I once was blind. Now I see, he did it. He’s a prophet. And you’re not. That’s what this guy’s saying. And they continue to question him. They say, tell this again. He said, I already told you. You don’t want to listen, just like Jesus. They didn’t want to listen to him.

And he says, Oh, do you want to be his disciples too? This guy’s awesome. And then notice who they are again. You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. And the man answered, Why? This is an amazing thing. You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. This is so simple. It’s right in front of you. It is an undeniable truth. How can you miss it? That’s what he’s saying.

And yet they continue to refuse. And so the Pharisees and the leaders in general, their mission is filled with false accusations and prejudice and stubborn pride and judgmentalism and envy and hypocrisy. So much so that they even admit what he’s doing and yet continue to want to stand against him. Chapter 11, 47 and 48. Here is this man performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him. I mean, maybe they should. Since he is sent from the Father, and he’s bringing salvation to the world. But when you are burdened with jealousy and envy and hunger for power and control, you’re willing to look past that. And so they say, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.

You see who it’s about? It’s about them. It’s not about reality. It’s not about the truth. It’s not an intellectual pursuit. It’s not about actually tracking down evidence and really figuring out the facts. It’s not about any of that. It’s their own selfish glory. Their own hunger for power. And I would say our world deals with many of these same things. We shouldn’t be naive to that. And it comes in different forms. Sometimes it’s just that I want to do what I want to do. And so I’m going to find some way to justify not accepting what Jesus says about himself. The clear evidence, the truth that’s right in front of me. Because I really just want to keep living the way I want to live.

6. Fear, Self-Seeking and Lack of Knowledge

So you have the pop propaganda and the manipulation and the envy and the hate and all of that. But then you actually also have people who aren’t that. They’re just afraid. You know, like the parents, we already talked about them. They’re afraid to speak because they’ve already been told you’re going to be removed from acceptable social society if you confess Jesus. Have you ever felt that at all? Maybe in your workplace or around family or whatever the scenario may be. We all have all sorts of situations we find ourselves in. If you are a Christian, one of those crazy Christians who believes in Jesus and you’re going to live a certain way and not do things like the world, it’s kind of pressure to not be acceptable.

And so there is the social shame that we just talked about with the parents who are unwilling to speak. They stay silent because they’re worried about what people will say around them. And then there’s just the self-seeking. Interesting, the rulers say, none of the authorities, none of the Pharisees believe him. Why do you believe him? But what’s interesting, of course, Nicodemus is right there, and he’s one of the authorities, one of the rulers. But you jump ahead to chapter 12. In chapter 12, 42 and 43, it says, yet it’s at the same time, many, even among the leaders believed in him, but because of the Pharisees, they would not openly acknowledge their faith. For they love human praise more than praise from God. So I know I’m drilling this down and I’m making this point really strongly, but I’m doing it on purpose.

This is not intellectual pursuit. This is not lack of evidence. They know. They know who he is. They know he’s a healer. They know he’s resurrected Lazarus from the dead. They know all of this. And yet, despite their knowledge, they will not give themselves over to him because they’re worried about no longer being praised by men. They seek their own self glory instead of the glory that is from above. Jesus makes this very point about himself earlier in the gospel. You seek your own glory, he tells him, I seek the glory of the Father. And that’s why I do what I do. Amazing. This is not about evidence. It’s not because there’s so much evidence against Jesus. He’s claimed to do miracles, but he’s not really doing them, or those kinds of things.

That’s not it at all. It’s fear. It’s peer pressure, we might call it. And then, as I’ve already hinted at, so I won’t stay here, stay here long, there is just lack of knowledge, incorrect information. The people are confused. They’re being misled by their rulers, by the leaders, and so some of this is understandable because they’re saying some of the same things. But back in John 7, you remember the people are divided and they’re saying different things. Some of them say he’s the Christ, and others are questioning this. How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not the scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem? And so there’s this kind of misunderstanding of the whole situation. They don’t know enough about Jesus, apparently.

They haven’t looked into it enough. And so they are uninformed. And they’re drawing conclusions from a place of ignorance. We’ve all done that. But the heart of this is that we aren’t content to be there. I don’t know where some of these people ended up. We don’t, we’re not told, right? I mean, they’re thinking some of this, and maybe they keep searching, they keep digging, and they figure out actually he was born in Bethlehem. Right? And so maybe they do find the truth. But what John is doing through this section, at least, but I think even through the whole gospel, is really trying to get the reader to say, what am I going to do with Jesus? Am I going to accept him? Am I going to reject him?

The evidence is here. What will I do with that evidence? Am I going to find some way or seek out some way in which I don’t have to do the things he says or follow him? Or am I going to realize this guy is an amazing miracle worker sent from God who is the answer.

And I want to be with him. Which one is it going to be? And if I can content to remain ignorant, I’ve made my choice. If I’m content to not search out the answers, that really means I’ve just decided to reject him. Because the answers are there. They can be found. If there’s a desire, the stories are present for us, actually, even outside of Scripture. There’s testimony about Jesus from ancient historians. The answers are there if we want them. And if I’m struggling, the response to that is I need to go look for those answers. Not just content with ignorance and think, well, you just can’t know. We can. We just have to be willing to look and search. And I’m not saying you’re going to find every answer to every question you’ve ever had.

That’s not my point. But there is enough testimony. There’s enough evidence out there to learn what we need to learn about Jesus to build faith in who he is. Today it is not any different, really, than it was then. Rejection today of Jesus Christ isn’t based in strong evidence against him. It’s not based in the alternative being so logical and being so proven. It’s not based in intellectual honesty. It’s not based in any of that. In fact, there’s a man who doesn’t, I think he lives pretty close by, maybe in the woodlands, Lee Strobel, you’ve probably heard of him. His wife became a Christian, and he thought that was the silliest thing ever. And he set out to disprove her. And then we now end up with the case for Christ, a book he wrote.

Conclusion

Very intelligent man trying his best to disprove Jesus, Christianity, the Bible. And in the end, he did just the opposite. And so what I would say in finality here is that Jesus claims still demand a verdict today. They still demand a decision of some kind. And if we’re unwilling to make one, we’ve made it.

And so John’s question is what are you going to say about Jesus?

Some said he’s the Christ.

He’s the one sent from God. Others said he’s leading the people astray. What do you believe? It’s one or the other. And based on that belief, what will you do? If you look at Jesus like some and say he’s a good man, are you going to do the things he said to do?

He can’t just be a good man. He’s more than that. He claims to be God all throughout the Gospel of John over and over again. They realize it multiple times. They pick up stones to stone him because they said he makes himself equal to God. He’s not a good man if he claims to be God, but he’s not actually God. So I have to ask myself, what am I going to do about that? What are you going to do about it? The people were divided. People today are divided too about Jesus. There’s faith and unbelief. There’s light and darkness. There’s truth and error. And those who rejected Jesus in the first century did so despite the evidence. They did it based on emotional, political, self-righteous motives.

That’s what that’s what it was. It wasn’t because they had any proof against him. What about today? And if I believe he’s the Messiah, if I believe he’s the Son of God, what he calls me to do is follow him. And so that’s going to look a certain way. I’m going to live a certain way if I follow Jesus and I do his will. And it could be this morning that it’s time for you to put on Christ to decide he’s the answer. Intellectually, emotionally, whatever angle you come from, he’s the answer. He’s sent from God, and it’s time to make that change. And that’ll come with the cost. It might mean you’re ridiculed by co-workers or by family, but what matters most? The praise of men or the praise that comes from God.

Can we help you this morning? Why don’t you come? Be baptized into Jesus Christ. Put on a new life, be resurrected, and be with him forever. Why don’t you come now as we stand and we sing?

To turn our minds to the Lord’s Supper. If you came in this morning and did not pick up some of the emblems, if you would please raise your hand at this time, we have some gentlemen in the back that can get those to you.

If you have your Bibles this morning and would like you can turn over to Ephesians chapter 3. We’ll be reading from there in a little bit. Before we get there, though, have you ever asked yourself, do people love me for who I am or for what I do for them? I imagine me saying this, your mind might jump to thinking of your different friends, and maybe bucking in to those who truly appreciate you that have that connection, or those that probably love you because of everything you contribute to them, accomplish, or offer to them. Or maybe you jump to your family saying, Of course, my family loves me for who I am. My mother, my father, my brothers and sisters. I know my children, sons and daughters.

Of course they love me for who I am. Others, this might be a little bit uncomfortable because a lot of the love we experience and give often feels like a little mix.

We love people for who they are, yes. A lot of us love. That love seems to be a little bit transactional in our lives.

Do I love myself for who I am or for what I do? My first response was, of course, I love myself. Except, if I was just a little bit better at this, or I didn’t struggle with that so much, I would love myself a lot more. In both these questions, I found myself at arriving at, I found myself arriving at there being a condition of why I think people love me or why I love myself. These conditions are logical, probably acceptable in the world. We live in today. But how do they compare when we ask that same questions of God’s love? Does God love us for who we are or for what we do for Him? We can start to see a contrast that is too hard, a contrast that’s hard to comprehend.

If you’re in Ephesians 3, we’ll start in verse 14. For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to strengthen with power through his spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the breadth, the length, the height and depth, and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with the fullness of God. This love that surpasses knowledge. It’s deeper, wider, higher than we can even understand. So, what is that love and how was it demonstrated for us?

For this, I would ask you to turn over to Romans 5, a passage that many of you know that clearly states what our situation is and God’s love for us. In Romans 5, starting in verse 6, for why we were still helpless at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one would hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man, someone would dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love towards us, and why we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more having been justified by his blood, we were say, we shall be saved with the wrath of God through him. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. Much more having been reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

We were helpless, we were ungodly, we were sinners, we were even enemies, but God’s love for us was there. So this morning we have the privilege to remember that love that God had for us and the death of Christ on the cross. If you would, please bow with me.

Amen.

Father, we come to you again, continuing in prayer, thanking you for the blood that was shed on the cross that washed our sins clean, that one day we may be with you in heaven. And we ask that you bless this fruit of the vine that we’re partaking and be with us as we remember Christ’s death. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Those who chose to be with us while we’re traveling. And again, just want to extend a welcome to you. We again have several of our number out as well, traveling for the holiday weekend. We pray for everyone’s safe travel. And I won’t reread everything in the bulletin. Please make note of that of that and look in there for some announcements from our members, but a few things I will mention. Please keep Beckett O’Lenick in her prayers. He was diagnosed with walking pneumonia, which is not good for anyone, but especially dangerous for him. So please keep him in their your prayers. Amanda and Justin Mock are home with Abigail. mostly as a precaution, just because trying to keep ahead of anything.

So please keep them in their prayers, keep Abigail in your prayers. our new classes, new quarters starts next Sunday, so June the first. for the adult classes, we’ll have some of the printed material available tonight and throughout the week, this coming week. I’ll let you know about what those are. So and on for the adult classes for Sunday evening on the auditorium, Craig will be leading us a study of the book of Daniel. in the classroom, we’ll be having a study on inspiration to ink, how we got the Bible. So myself and Bill and will be helping us through that, leading us in that study. Wednesday evenings, Aaron Purcell is going to be leading us in the study of the book of Judges, and then the classroom will be having a study called Blessed to Bless, study about the physical blessings that God’s given us good stewardship.

And Jonas and Jay will be leading us in that study. just a reminder: so though we will be starting on June 1st, that’s also the first day of the Dry Creek camp. So a lot of people will be gone, a lot of parents, a lot of kids, for that drop-off. so what we’ve decided to do is, even though it’s the start of the quarter, we’ll ask the K through twelve grades to actually meet in the auditorium. Those of you who are actually here, and we apologize for that, but we have so many teachers and so many students out, just felt that was the best thing to do for now. We’ll have their first class on the following Wednesday. So that’s the fourth.

And also remember today we have song leader train class starting at 3 30. Clayton, I don’t think Clayton. I think we’re we’re okay. We’re meeting in the auditorium first, and we’ll have some breakouts after that. But 3 30 this afternoon. please make take advantage of that so we can learn how to lead others and worship to our God even better. And then tonight will be our end of quarter singing that Clayton has also put together. So he’s gotten with several men to help us lead us in that, and if any questions, please see him on when and where you’re going. Are there any in the other announcements? Craig. Okay, then let’s all be standing. John, do you have a closing song?

Okay, we’ll have a closing song. Thanks, John. Behold our God. No.

Our Father in Heaven. We are so grateful, Father, for the time that you’ve given us to come together and study a portion of your word to hear your truth proclaimed to us. We give all praise to your name, Father. We thank you, Father, for the work here at Decker Prairie. We ask that you continue to give us unity at this place. We thank you for the elders here, Father. We ask that you pour out your wisdom upon them. That they can stand firm in the truth with an open mind and with the compassion of Jesus Christ. Father, we’re in awe of your Son, our Creator, who came to this earth in a form just as us, suffered, and died for us. We thank you, Father, for that sacrifice.

We ask that you continue to be with us as we leave this place. You always let us know who we are, what we’re supposed to do. Let us always be mindful of your word as we travel throughout this world. Christ’s name we pray. Amen.