1 00:00:13,667 --> 00:00:15,167 Welcome to Mars Hill church. 2 00:00:15,250 --> 00:00:18,167 Jesus is using Mars Hill to make disciples 3 00:00:18,208 --> 00:00:20,458 and plant churches all over the world 4 00:00:20,500 --> 00:00:23,167 and this wouldn't be happening without your help. 5 00:00:23,250 --> 00:00:26,000 Your gifts enable what you're watching right now 6 00:00:26,083 --> 00:00:28,583 and help plant churches, equip evangelists, 7 00:00:28,667 --> 00:00:31,333 and translate resources and study materials 8 00:00:31,375 --> 00:00:35,292 for people who have never had access to them before. 9 00:00:35,333 --> 00:00:38,500 Whether you're a part of a local Mars Hill church 10 00:00:38,542 --> 00:00:42,167 or you're one of hundreds of thousands of people 11 00:00:42,250 --> 00:00:45,250 listening and watching sermons each and every week, 12 00:00:45,333 --> 00:00:49,042 you're a part of our global family and I want to thank you. 13 00:00:49,125 --> 00:00:52,333 I encourage you to pray about giving to Mars Hill. 14 00:00:52,375 --> 00:00:56,083 You make this content available for free to anyone in the world, 15 00:00:56,167 --> 00:00:59,458 send out more pastors, plant more churches, 16 00:00:59,500 --> 00:01:04,333 and bring the kingdom of Jesus Christ to our world today. 17 00:01:04,375 --> 00:01:06,000 Thank you. 18 00:01:08,667 --> 00:01:10,208 Howdy Mars Hill, Pastor Mark here. 19 00:01:10,292 --> 00:01:13,833 Really excited to have some guest preachers for us. 20 00:01:13,875 --> 00:01:17,708 I'm taking my usual summer break with Grace and the fab five, 21 00:01:17,792 --> 00:01:20,500 and so it's time for Best Sermon Ever. 22 00:01:20,583 --> 00:01:24,042 And this week, I am really excited to introduce to you 23 00:01:24,125 --> 00:01:26,167 Dr. Bryan Chapell. 24 00:01:26,208 --> 00:01:28,708 He is a great friend of Mars Hill. 25 00:01:28,792 --> 00:01:30,750 He's taught at ReTrain over the years. 26 00:01:30,833 --> 00:01:32,750 He literally wrote the book on preaching. 27 00:01:32,833 --> 00:01:36,000 If you're a guy, gal who wants to learn how to teach 28 00:01:36,083 --> 00:01:39,333 God's Word, "Christ-Centered Preaching" is awesome. 29 00:01:39,417 --> 00:01:41,333 He's written a great marriage book as well. 30 00:01:41,417 --> 00:01:43,458 He's been married for 34 years. 31 00:01:43,500 --> 00:01:46,417 He's a guy who led Covenant Seminary, 32 00:01:46,500 --> 00:01:51,125 a great Jesus-centered, gospel-saturated school, 33 00:01:51,167 --> 00:01:53,750 for about 20 years. 34 00:01:53,833 --> 00:01:57,417 He's a seasoned pastor, godly husband and father, 35 00:01:57,500 --> 00:01:59,625 and fantastic Bible teacher. 36 00:01:59,667 --> 00:02:02,125 So we're very honored, very blessed to have him. 37 00:02:02,167 --> 00:02:05,292 I want you, Mars Hill, to welcome, enjoy him, 38 00:02:05,333 --> 00:02:07,333 to listen to what the Holy Spirit 39 00:02:07,375 --> 00:02:09,375 would have him teach. 40 00:02:09,458 --> 00:02:11,375 And for our Best Sermon Ever series, 41 00:02:11,458 --> 00:02:13,125 it's our kind of fun summer series, 42 00:02:13,167 --> 00:02:15,708 we always give our special guests a special gift. 43 00:02:15,792 --> 00:02:19,208 So, since we are ones who baptize adults 44 00:02:19,292 --> 00:02:21,917 and he baptizes infants through sprinkling, 45 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:24,250 we have for him a very nice sprinkler 46 00:02:24,333 --> 00:02:26,208 to take home for him and his family. 47 00:02:26,292 --> 00:02:27,667 We love you, Dr. Chapell. 48 00:02:27,708 --> 00:02:29,625 Thanks for joining us and serving Jesus 49 00:02:29,667 --> 00:02:32,000 at Mars Hill Church. 50 00:02:35,833 --> 00:02:39,667 Now, that's odd, 51 00:02:39,708 --> 00:02:43,417 to follow your own promo seems weird 52 00:02:43,500 --> 00:02:45,833 and to follow your own sprinkling-machine offer 53 00:02:45,917 --> 00:02:48,500 is also quite odd. 54 00:02:48,583 --> 00:02:51,833 I usually pass Pastor Mark in conferences 55 00:02:51,917 --> 00:02:56,667 and I remember my very first meetings with him, 56 00:02:56,708 --> 00:02:59,500 we were in a Q&A period at some conference 57 00:02:59,542 --> 00:03:03,167 and I remember him saying, "Let's debate infant baptism." 58 00:03:03,208 --> 00:03:05,125 I thought, "I'm just getting to know you. 59 00:03:05,167 --> 00:03:06,708 What are you talking about here?" 60 00:03:06,792 --> 00:03:08,167 So the challenge is down 61 00:03:08,208 --> 00:03:11,792 if he wants to bring me back I'll do it, okay? 62 00:03:11,833 --> 00:03:13,708 We'll see if he takes up that challenge. 63 00:03:13,792 --> 00:03:16,583 Let me tell you, I'm so thankful to be here 64 00:03:16,667 --> 00:03:21,208 and to be here to serve Pastor Mark while he's on vacation. 65 00:03:21,292 --> 00:03:24,417 A few years ago, we were in different conferences, 66 00:03:24,500 --> 00:03:28,000 but actually crossed paths in an airport in Ireland. 67 00:03:28,083 --> 00:03:31,500 And as we were crossing paths, we just had an hour or so 68 00:03:31,583 --> 00:03:32,917 to spend together. 69 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,292 He was with his dad at that time, and I must tell you, 70 00:03:36,333 --> 00:03:40,042 I was at a particular low place in life and ministry. 71 00:03:40,125 --> 00:03:44,250 And it was great for me just to have some time with Mark, 72 00:03:44,333 --> 00:03:46,250 at the end of which he just said--now, 73 00:03:46,333 --> 00:03:48,750 we didn't know each other that well at the time, 74 00:03:48,833 --> 00:03:50,708 but as we were parting, he just said, 75 00:03:50,792 --> 00:03:53,208 "Bryan, I just want you to know I love you." 76 00:03:53,292 --> 00:03:56,750 And I know that sounds so simple and maybe a little sappy. 77 00:03:56,833 --> 00:03:59,250 It was exactly what I needed in that moment, 78 00:03:59,333 --> 00:04:02,708 and I'm so thankful for Mark for having a pastor's heart 79 00:04:02,792 --> 00:04:05,292 and expressing it to me in those moments, 80 00:04:05,333 --> 00:04:08,500 and a privilege now to be in this church of his ministry 81 00:04:08,542 --> 00:04:11,208 and to speak to you from God's Word as well. 82 00:04:11,292 --> 00:04:14,625 To do that, I want to ask that you would look in your Bibles 83 00:04:14,667 --> 00:04:16,917 at John 10. 84 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,625 John 10, we are very close to the end of 85 00:04:19,667 --> 00:04:21,792 Christ's earthly ministry. 86 00:04:21,833 --> 00:04:24,333 The Gospel of John, divided in half roughly. 87 00:04:24,375 --> 00:04:27,583 The first half of the book is the 3 plus years of 88 00:04:27,667 --> 00:04:31,208 Jesus' earthly ministry, and the last half of the book, 89 00:04:31,292 --> 00:04:35,792 basically just the final week described in detail. 90 00:04:35,833 --> 00:04:39,125 And here in John 10, 91 00:04:39,167 --> 00:04:44,167 Jesus is preparing, not just his friends, 92 00:04:44,208 --> 00:04:47,667 but his enemies for the cataclysm 93 00:04:47,708 --> 00:04:51,333 that is about to happen, the end of his earthly life. 94 00:04:51,417 --> 00:04:53,667 And he sets it up himself. 95 00:04:53,708 --> 00:04:57,167 John 10:24, we read these words. 96 00:04:57,208 --> 00:05:01,500 "So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, 97 00:05:01,583 --> 00:05:04,792 "'How long will you keep us in suspense? 98 00:05:04,833 --> 00:05:10,125 "'If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.' 99 00:05:10,167 --> 00:05:13,708 "Jesus answered them, 100 00:05:13,792 --> 00:05:17,708 "'I told you, and you do not believe. 101 00:05:17,792 --> 00:05:20,000 "'The works that I do in my Father's name 102 00:05:20,042 --> 00:05:23,125 "'bear witness about me, but you do not believe 103 00:05:23,167 --> 00:05:25,708 "'because you are not among my sheep. 104 00:05:25,792 --> 00:05:31,625 "'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 105 00:05:31,667 --> 00:05:35,333 "'I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, 106 00:05:35,375 --> 00:05:37,792 "'and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 107 00:05:37,833 --> 00:05:41,917 "'My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, 108 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:47,458 "'and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 109 00:05:47,500 --> 00:05:52,208 "'I and the Father are one.' 110 00:05:52,292 --> 00:05:56,250 "The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. 111 00:05:56,333 --> 00:05:59,458 "Jesus answered them, 'I have shown you many good works from 112 00:05:59,500 --> 00:06:03,292 "'the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?' 113 00:06:03,333 --> 00:06:08,000 "The Jews answered him, 'It is not for a good work that we 114 00:06:08,083 --> 00:06:12,292 "'are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, 115 00:06:12,333 --> 00:06:18,833 "'being a man, make yourself God.' 116 00:06:18,875 --> 00:06:21,917 "Jesus answered them, 'Is it not written in your Law, 117 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,083 "'"I said, you are gods"? 118 00:06:25,167 --> 00:06:28,417 "'If he called them gods to whom the word of God came-- 119 00:06:28,500 --> 00:06:31,500 "'and Scripture cannot be broken--do you say of him 120 00:06:31,583 --> 00:06:34,167 "'whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, 121 00:06:34,250 --> 00:06:35,875 "'"You are blaspheming," 122 00:06:35,958 --> 00:06:39,375 "'because I said, "I am the Son of God"? 123 00:06:39,458 --> 00:06:41,833 "'If I am not doing the works of my Father, 124 00:06:41,875 --> 00:06:45,958 "'then do not believe me; but if I do them, 125 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:50,042 "'even though you do not believe me, believe the works, 126 00:06:50,125 --> 00:06:53,958 "'that you may know and understand 127 00:06:54,000 --> 00:06:56,458 "'that the Father is in me 128 00:06:56,500 --> 00:06:59,833 and I am in the Father.' 129 00:06:59,917 --> 00:07:02,917 "Again they sought to arrest him, 130 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,333 but he escaped from their hands." 131 00:07:07,375 --> 00:07:11,000 Let's pray together. 132 00:07:11,083 --> 00:07:14,125 Father, thank you for the truth of your word 133 00:07:14,167 --> 00:07:17,917 and the Son who came. 134 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:20,625 Would you help us, by the word, 135 00:07:20,667 --> 00:07:24,708 to hear the Son, by his witness, 136 00:07:24,792 --> 00:07:27,833 the Spirit, in our hearts. 137 00:07:27,875 --> 00:07:32,417 Do this, we pray, that we might know you through him. 138 00:07:32,500 --> 00:07:37,083 We pray in Jesus' name, amen. 139 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,250 "You know, this church 140 00:07:43,333 --> 00:07:46,667 needs to improve its music." 141 00:07:50,417 --> 00:07:54,750 The words were spoken, not in this church, but in my church, 142 00:07:54,833 --> 00:08:00,417 to my wife, our music director, 143 00:08:00,500 --> 00:08:04,083 by a woman in our church who was letting us know 144 00:08:04,167 --> 00:08:06,292 that our music did not quite meet her 145 00:08:06,333 --> 00:08:09,375 classical expectations or qualifications. 146 00:08:09,458 --> 00:08:12,917 And she spoke at some length, her husband by her side. 147 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,917 I stood by my wife's side as we listened to the critique. 148 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:19,333 And at the end of the critique, as it had kind of built in 149 00:08:19,375 --> 00:08:25,208 crescendo, the woman ended again with the rant, 150 00:08:25,292 --> 00:08:28,375 "This church needs to improve its music," 151 00:08:28,458 --> 00:08:31,625 and just to underscore, she looked at her husband and said, 152 00:08:31,667 --> 00:08:35,667 "Don't you agree?" 153 00:08:35,750 --> 00:08:38,625 Well, by that time, he was kind of distracted and looking out 154 00:08:38,667 --> 00:08:43,500 across the lobby, and he didn't even hear what she had said. 155 00:08:43,542 --> 00:08:45,917 And she now, in utter frustration, 156 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,333 turned on her heel in a huff, sang to us, 157 00:08:49,375 --> 00:08:54,708 "He's so old he doesn't hear anything anymore." 158 00:08:54,792 --> 00:09:00,167 She walked away, and when she was out of earshot, 159 00:09:00,250 --> 00:09:03,375 he turned to us with a wink and said, 160 00:09:03,458 --> 00:09:09,542 "I hear what I want to hear." 161 00:09:10,750 --> 00:09:13,583 The message clearly, you can listen 162 00:09:13,667 --> 00:09:17,667 and not really hear at all. 163 00:09:17,750 --> 00:09:19,958 It's what's happening here in this account. 164 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,167 There are people who have listened a lot, 165 00:09:23,250 --> 00:09:27,333 but they have obviously not really heard who Jesus is 166 00:09:27,417 --> 00:09:29,500 or what he is saying. 167 00:09:29,542 --> 00:09:32,500 And the same we know can happen to all of us. 168 00:09:32,542 --> 00:09:35,375 We can be in church settings, we can be in religious settings, 169 00:09:35,458 --> 00:09:37,375 we can hear things about the gospel 170 00:09:37,458 --> 00:09:39,000 from the Bible about Jesus. 171 00:09:39,042 --> 00:09:42,000 Lots of things can just be the words going past, 172 00:09:42,042 --> 00:09:45,167 but they don't really sink into our hearts, 173 00:09:45,250 --> 00:09:46,625 into our consciousness. 174 00:09:46,667 --> 00:09:50,292 They don't have the weight of reality in them. 175 00:09:50,333 --> 00:09:53,417 And what Jesus is making clear in this particular passage is 176 00:09:53,500 --> 00:09:59,208 that we have to actually hear the reality and the truth of 177 00:09:59,292 --> 00:10:01,792 these words if we are to be his. 178 00:10:01,833 --> 00:10:06,000 And you have to say, what is it that the Jewish leaders at this 179 00:10:06,083 --> 00:10:09,667 time--what are they actually supposed to have heard? 180 00:10:09,750 --> 00:10:12,167 I mean, it's pretty clear they're supposed to have heard 181 00:10:12,250 --> 00:10:14,917 Jesus' claims to divinity. 182 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:18,000 Now, you recognize they've been around the fringe of that when 183 00:10:18,083 --> 00:10:24,875 they say to him, "Tell us plainly, are you the Christ?" 184 00:10:24,958 --> 00:10:26,917 And Jesus seemingly is saying, 185 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,000 "Well, I've said to you already but you haven't heard." 186 00:10:30,083 --> 00:10:33,667 He just kind of says, "I've already told you." 187 00:10:33,750 --> 00:10:36,833 Now, if you're to be fair to the Jewish leaders at this time, 188 00:10:36,875 --> 00:10:39,833 you would have to go through the book of John and say, 189 00:10:39,875 --> 00:10:41,458 "Actually, Jesus hasn't told them." 190 00:10:41,500 --> 00:10:43,333 I mean, not in so many words. 191 00:10:43,417 --> 00:10:46,250 He has never said, to this point in the gospel of John, 192 00:10:46,333 --> 00:10:49,833 "I am the Christ." 193 00:10:49,917 --> 00:10:52,125 So they may have some valid complaints of saying, 194 00:10:52,167 --> 00:10:53,625 "Well, just tell us. 195 00:10:53,667 --> 00:10:55,000 Be plain about it." 196 00:10:55,083 --> 00:10:56,833 But Jesus says, "No, listen. 197 00:10:56,917 --> 00:10:59,667 It should already be plain to you." 198 00:10:59,708 --> 00:11:02,208 Because even if he has not given the very words, 199 00:11:02,292 --> 00:11:05,792 there are enough dots to connect 200 00:11:05,833 --> 00:11:08,708 to make clear who he actually is. 201 00:11:08,792 --> 00:11:13,083 After all, recognize that there have been words whispered around 202 00:11:13,167 --> 00:11:15,083 the Jewish leaders already. 203 00:11:15,167 --> 00:11:17,833 If your Bibles are open and you just back up into 204 00:11:17,875 --> 00:11:20,500 the previous chapter in the book of John, in John 9, 205 00:11:20,542 --> 00:11:23,500 there's an account of a man born blind 206 00:11:23,583 --> 00:11:26,000 who has been healed by Jesus. 207 00:11:26,083 --> 00:11:28,792 And at the end of that account, when that man says, 208 00:11:28,833 --> 00:11:32,292 "It's Jesus who heals me," he is thrown out of the temple. 209 00:11:32,333 --> 00:11:35,917 And Jesus later meets him, and at the end of the account, 210 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:37,333 we read this. 211 00:11:37,375 --> 00:11:40,458 "Jesus heard that they," that is, the Jewish leaders, 212 00:11:40,500 --> 00:11:43,208 "had cast [the man now healed] out, 213 00:11:43,292 --> 00:11:45,208 "and having found him he said, 214 00:11:45,292 --> 00:11:49,750 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?'" 215 00:11:49,833 --> 00:11:52,958 Now, that's kind of unusual language because it's a title. 216 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:54,458 It's not just a descriptor. 217 00:11:54,500 --> 00:11:56,542 "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 218 00:11:56,625 --> 00:12:00,208 In the book of Daniel, hundreds of years earlier, 219 00:12:00,292 --> 00:12:04,000 the prophet Daniel had prophesied the coming Messiah, 220 00:12:04,042 --> 00:12:06,500 identifying him as the Son of Man, 221 00:12:06,583 --> 00:12:11,000 one who would be like us but whose origins 222 00:12:11,042 --> 00:12:12,708 would be in heaven. 223 00:12:12,792 --> 00:12:16,625 And now Jesus says to this man Who's been born blind but healed 224 00:12:16,667 --> 00:12:18,708 by the miraculous work of Jesus himself, 225 00:12:18,792 --> 00:12:20,917 "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 226 00:12:21,000 --> 00:12:24,167 Listen to how the blind man responds. 227 00:12:24,250 --> 00:12:29,167 "'And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?' 228 00:12:29,250 --> 00:12:34,167 "Jesus said to him, 'You have seen him, 229 00:12:34,250 --> 00:12:40,458 and it is he who is speaking to you.'" 230 00:12:40,500 --> 00:12:43,250 Who is Jesus claiming to be? 231 00:12:43,333 --> 00:12:46,833 The Son of Man, the one who is like us but whose origins 232 00:12:46,875 --> 00:12:48,208 are in heaven. 233 00:12:48,292 --> 00:12:54,250 John 9:40, we read this, "Some of the Pharisees near him 234 00:12:54,333 --> 00:12:59,958 heard these things," the whispers of who Jesus is, 235 00:13:00,083 --> 00:13:01,792 just the reputation. 236 00:13:01,833 --> 00:13:04,833 Even the overhearing of the conversation says 237 00:13:04,875 --> 00:13:08,167 they have some idea of who he is. 238 00:13:08,250 --> 00:13:11,083 But it's not just the whispers, it's the very works. 239 00:13:11,167 --> 00:13:13,500 Jesus says later in this chapter, right, 240 00:13:13,583 --> 00:13:16,125 "You should believe for the very work's sake. 241 00:13:16,167 --> 00:13:20,083 "You've seen a man born blind, healed. 242 00:13:20,167 --> 00:13:23,917 "You know that I have fed the 5,000 243 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:25,917 "with a few loaves and fishes. 244 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:27,875 "The water has been turned into wine. 245 00:13:27,958 --> 00:13:30,625 "The lame had been made to walk. 246 00:13:30,667 --> 00:13:33,125 Those who had been deaf have been made to hear." 247 00:13:33,167 --> 00:13:36,125 There are works that are affirming who Jesus is, 248 00:13:36,167 --> 00:13:41,625 but still the Jewish leaders have not connected the dots. 249 00:13:41,667 --> 00:13:43,833 So finally here toward the end of his life, 250 00:13:43,875 --> 00:13:46,708 Jesus connects the dots for them. 251 00:13:46,792 --> 00:13:49,667 It's in John 10:30. 252 00:13:49,708 --> 00:13:56,708 Jesus actually says there, "I and the Father are one." 253 00:13:58,583 --> 00:14:01,625 Do you remember what happens next? 254 00:14:01,667 --> 00:14:06,500 They begin to gather up stones, for what purpose? 255 00:14:06,583 --> 00:14:08,167 To stone him. 256 00:14:08,250 --> 00:14:11,125 And Jesus said, "Now, why are you about to stone me? 257 00:14:11,167 --> 00:14:13,625 For what works are you about to stone me?" 258 00:14:13,667 --> 00:14:16,833 They say, "We're not about to stone you for your works but for 259 00:14:16,875 --> 00:14:21,125 "your words, because you make yourself out to be God 260 00:14:21,167 --> 00:14:23,292 "even though you are a man. 261 00:14:23,333 --> 00:14:26,500 "You said, 'I and the Father are one.' 262 00:14:26,583 --> 00:14:30,292 You can't be a man and claim to be God." 263 00:14:30,333 --> 00:14:33,667 Then Jesus does something that kind of tests your 264 00:14:33,750 --> 00:14:35,583 Bible trivia knowledge for a little bit. 265 00:14:35,667 --> 00:14:37,583 He does something very unusual to our hearing. 266 00:14:37,667 --> 00:14:39,750 He said, "Well, wait a second. 267 00:14:39,833 --> 00:14:43,542 "Don't your own Scriptures say that those to whom 268 00:14:43,625 --> 00:14:48,667 the word of God came are gods?" 269 00:14:48,708 --> 00:14:52,042 Now, that's very odd to us. 270 00:14:52,125 --> 00:14:55,500 Jesus is actually quoting from Psalm 82. 271 00:14:55,583 --> 00:15:00,167 In that particular passage, those who were judges in Israel 272 00:15:00,250 --> 00:15:03,125 in the Old Testament, those who were supposed to judge others 273 00:15:03,167 --> 00:15:08,500 by the word of God were given the title of gods. 274 00:15:08,542 --> 00:15:11,417 Now that sounds so odd to us, but it's not so odd. 275 00:15:11,500 --> 00:15:14,167 I mean, imagine an old black and white movie of somebody 276 00:15:14,250 --> 00:15:18,417 in an English courtroom who's on trial. 277 00:15:18,500 --> 00:15:22,875 And when the person on trial in the dock addresses the judge, 278 00:15:22,958 --> 00:15:25,792 how does the person on trial address the judge? 279 00:15:25,833 --> 00:15:30,375 He says, "My Lord, these are the charges against me. 280 00:15:30,458 --> 00:15:32,167 My Lord, I'm not guilty. My Lord--" 281 00:15:32,250 --> 00:15:34,625 and even in our English tradition, 282 00:15:34,667 --> 00:15:39,500 those who are judges are sometimes called lords. 283 00:15:39,583 --> 00:15:43,042 In the Old Testament, sometimes those who were called judges 284 00:15:43,125 --> 00:15:45,333 or who were judges were called gods. 285 00:15:45,375 --> 00:15:47,042 And so Jesus--now, can you picture it? 286 00:15:47,125 --> 00:15:50,250 I mean, you almost have to kind of put on your humor glasses 287 00:15:50,333 --> 00:15:51,667 a little bit. 288 00:15:51,708 --> 00:15:53,042 People are reaching down. 289 00:15:53,125 --> 00:15:57,542 They're about to stone Jesus and he says, "Wait a second! 290 00:15:57,625 --> 00:16:02,208 "Doesn't your own Bible say that whoever has the word of God 291 00:16:02,292 --> 00:16:04,125 is a god?" 292 00:16:04,167 --> 00:16:07,167 And they're going... 293 00:16:07,250 --> 00:16:09,500 "Well, yeah, it does. 294 00:16:09,583 --> 00:16:11,708 Well, maybe we can't stone him." 295 00:16:11,792 --> 00:16:15,708 And just in that moment of hesitation, 296 00:16:15,792 --> 00:16:21,583 Jesus has opportunity to escape. 297 00:16:21,667 --> 00:16:26,125 Now, even though he has distracted his critics, 298 00:16:26,167 --> 00:16:30,917 what we should recognize is he has never retracted his claim. 299 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,667 He has claimed that he and the Father are one. 300 00:16:33,750 --> 00:16:36,167 He has claimed that he is the Son of Man, 301 00:16:36,250 --> 00:16:37,583 the long-predicted Messiah. 302 00:16:37,667 --> 00:16:40,542 They ask him if he is the Christ and he says, 303 00:16:40,625 --> 00:16:43,042 "I've already told you," and then he connects the dots 304 00:16:43,125 --> 00:16:45,042 by saying, "I and the Father are one. 305 00:16:45,125 --> 00:16:47,625 He is in me and I am in him." 306 00:16:47,667 --> 00:16:51,000 He is claiming to be the actual Son of God, 307 00:16:51,083 --> 00:16:53,333 now present among his people. 308 00:16:53,375 --> 00:16:55,333 That is what his words are. 309 00:16:55,375 --> 00:17:01,417 Why don't they hear him, I mean, really hear him? 310 00:17:01,500 --> 00:17:03,708 Jesus actually says why they don't hear him, 311 00:17:03,792 --> 00:17:08,708 because they do not have the gift of hearing. 312 00:17:08,792 --> 00:17:12,667 Look with me at verses 26 and 27 of John 10. 313 00:17:12,750 --> 00:17:17,500 Jesus, speaking to this Jewish crowd who's now critiquing him 314 00:17:17,583 --> 00:17:20,417 and ready to stone him, "You do not believe 315 00:17:20,500 --> 00:17:23,125 "because you are not [part of my flock]. 316 00:17:23,167 --> 00:17:25,833 My sheep hear my voice." 317 00:17:25,875 --> 00:17:27,292 And who are they? 318 00:17:27,333 --> 00:17:30,625 Verse 29, "My Father, who has given them to me, 319 00:17:30,667 --> 00:17:33,625 "is greater than all, and no one is able to [take] them 320 00:17:33,667 --> 00:17:35,417 out of [his] hand." 321 00:17:35,500 --> 00:17:38,792 The ones who hear are those who have been given to Jesus 322 00:17:38,833 --> 00:17:40,208 by the Father. 323 00:17:40,292 --> 00:17:45,500 If you can't hear, you have not been gifted to hear. 324 00:17:45,583 --> 00:17:49,458 What Jesus is actually claiming is in the counsels of God, 325 00:17:49,500 --> 00:17:53,500 in heaven itself, God so works in the hearts of human beings 326 00:17:53,583 --> 00:17:58,042 that they are changed internally so that ears that no longer felt 327 00:17:58,125 --> 00:18:01,417 the reality of the word of God, that maybe never heard it as 328 00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:06,333 something that is actually true, now begin to actually fathom 329 00:18:06,375 --> 00:18:11,833 its depth, its truth, its reality, its weightiness. 330 00:18:11,875 --> 00:18:14,208 Some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. 331 00:18:14,292 --> 00:18:16,875 You may have grown up in the church or you may 332 00:18:16,958 --> 00:18:18,917 have heard churchy things for a long time. 333 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,583 It may have sounded like foolishness or weirdness 334 00:18:21,667 --> 00:18:25,000 that God would send his Son to die on a cross for our sin, 335 00:18:25,083 --> 00:18:27,417 that we could confess our sin to God, 336 00:18:27,500 --> 00:18:31,417 and that by belief that Jesus had taken our sin upon himself, 337 00:18:31,500 --> 00:18:33,000 we would be pardoned forever. 338 00:18:33,042 --> 00:18:35,167 And you kind of go, "Man, those Christians believe 339 00:18:35,250 --> 00:18:37,375 crazy things." 340 00:18:37,458 --> 00:18:40,917 And then somehow, by the gift of God, 341 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:43,833 the Spirit began to work in your heart 342 00:18:43,875 --> 00:18:47,625 and it began to make sense, 343 00:18:47,667 --> 00:18:50,292 that God would have made a way for your sin 344 00:18:50,333 --> 00:18:52,208 to be put away. 345 00:18:52,292 --> 00:18:55,000 And the way that he made that way would be through 346 00:18:55,042 --> 00:18:58,208 the sacrifice of his own Son. 347 00:18:58,292 --> 00:19:03,375 Travis Reed is a Christian media producer who writes about his 348 00:19:03,458 --> 00:19:06,375 own experience of how this gift of God happened, 349 00:19:06,458 --> 00:19:09,875 how the Spirit began to work in his heart so what he had heard 350 00:19:09,958 --> 00:19:12,583 for so long began finally to have weight, 351 00:19:12,667 --> 00:19:15,792 to make sense to him in a way that was more than just 352 00:19:15,833 --> 00:19:17,875 the cognition of words. 353 00:19:17,958 --> 00:19:20,875 Writing about his own life experience, he says this. 354 00:19:20,958 --> 00:19:24,167 "At age 13, 355 00:19:24,250 --> 00:19:29,583 "I was baptized by my first step-father. 356 00:19:29,667 --> 00:19:34,500 "I thought that somehow, by letting him baptize me, 357 00:19:34,542 --> 00:19:37,167 "that he would stick around. 358 00:19:37,250 --> 00:19:40,167 "But 3 days after he raised me out of the font, 359 00:19:40,250 --> 00:19:46,208 "my step-father beat up my mom and ran off, 360 00:19:46,292 --> 00:19:49,208 "and we never saw him again. 361 00:19:49,292 --> 00:19:52,833 "The well-meaning churches that my mom and I cycled through in 362 00:19:52,875 --> 00:19:59,500 "my youth didn't ever mention my unusual life circumstances, 363 00:19:59,583 --> 00:20:04,208 "four new fathers in four years, and many other such things. 364 00:20:04,292 --> 00:20:09,000 "But I continued searching, searching for the father I never 365 00:20:09,042 --> 00:20:12,708 "really knew, the father who never really stuck around. 366 00:20:12,792 --> 00:20:16,125 "One year, I went to see U2 in concert. 367 00:20:16,167 --> 00:20:19,125 "I was yakked out on coke and tequila. 368 00:20:19,167 --> 00:20:24,125 "And the last song of the night was '40.' 369 00:20:24,167 --> 00:20:27,792 "'I waited patiently for the Lord. 370 00:20:27,833 --> 00:20:32,208 "'He inclined and listened to my cry.' 371 00:20:32,292 --> 00:20:36,500 "I had no idea that the lyrics were from Psalm 40, 372 00:20:36,583 --> 00:20:41,417 "but I was drenched in love and I was immediately sobered. 373 00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:44,250 "The voices carried me toward the arms of God. 374 00:20:44,333 --> 00:20:50,833 "Out of nowhere, the breeze of grace began to blow over me. 375 00:20:50,917 --> 00:20:53,417 "The moment was profound. 376 00:20:53,500 --> 00:20:57,750 "The majority of what I had heard in church had not stuck, 377 00:20:57,833 --> 00:21:00,500 "but I did remember that somewhere in the middle of the Bible 378 00:21:00,542 --> 00:21:04,125 "was Psalms, and so I began to devour the words of the Psalms 379 00:21:04,167 --> 00:21:06,500 "like they were the lyrics on the liner of 380 00:21:06,542 --> 00:21:08,500 "a Johnny Cash album. 381 00:21:08,583 --> 00:21:10,708 "They were deep and rich. 382 00:21:10,792 --> 00:21:12,583 "They had street cred. 383 00:21:12,667 --> 00:21:17,792 "I started to think, 'Man, this might be real.' 384 00:21:17,833 --> 00:21:20,708 "The next morning, I was listening to U2's song, 385 00:21:20,792 --> 00:21:23,792 "'Hawkmoon 269.' 386 00:21:23,833 --> 00:21:30,000 "'Like a desert needs rain, like a town needs a name, 387 00:21:30,083 --> 00:21:34,000 "'I need your love.' 388 00:21:34,042 --> 00:21:38,208 "I pulled the car over and started weeping. 389 00:21:38,292 --> 00:21:42,125 "I did not just hear the song, 390 00:21:42,167 --> 00:21:45,500 "I felt it in the depth of my being. 391 00:21:45,583 --> 00:21:47,042 "It called me to strength. 392 00:21:47,125 --> 00:21:49,917 It gave me hope." 393 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:51,833 That's what Jesus is talking about here. 394 00:21:51,875 --> 00:21:55,833 Not merely listening to words but actually hearing them for 395 00:21:55,875 --> 00:21:57,542 the reality that they are. 396 00:21:57,625 --> 00:22:03,125 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." 397 00:22:03,167 --> 00:22:06,792 There is something that now begins to speak to us out of 398 00:22:06,833 --> 00:22:10,792 the reality of the God who came and the provision he makes. 399 00:22:10,833 --> 00:22:14,333 And we begin to say, "That's real. 400 00:22:14,375 --> 00:22:16,833 "I need that. I need that love. 401 00:22:16,875 --> 00:22:19,500 "I somehow have heard its provision, 402 00:22:19,583 --> 00:22:21,292 but now it begins to make sense." 403 00:22:21,333 --> 00:22:24,667 And that is the very gift of God. 404 00:22:24,750 --> 00:22:28,292 But the Jewish leaders don't hear because they don't have 405 00:22:28,333 --> 00:22:29,833 the gift of hearing. 406 00:22:29,875 --> 00:22:33,625 The other thing they do not have is they do not have the guts for 407 00:22:33,667 --> 00:22:35,208 hearing what Jesus is saying. 408 00:22:35,292 --> 00:22:39,208 After all, if it is really true that Jesus is the Son of God, 409 00:22:39,292 --> 00:22:42,333 come for his people to claim them by his own death 410 00:22:42,417 --> 00:22:45,125 and suffering for their sin, then that is going to, 411 00:22:45,167 --> 00:22:47,458 among other things, make what he is talking about 412 00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:53,167 absolutely unique among the religions of humankind. 413 00:22:53,208 --> 00:22:55,667 C.S. Lewis, as he was once describing what 414 00:22:55,708 --> 00:22:59,042 it would really mean for Jesus to claim to be the Son of God 415 00:22:59,125 --> 00:23:00,792 and for that to be real, 416 00:23:00,833 --> 00:23:03,167 he talked about how it would distinguish what Jesus 417 00:23:03,250 --> 00:23:07,708 is talking about from all the other religions of the world. 418 00:23:07,792 --> 00:23:09,125 C.S. Lewis says this, 419 00:23:09,167 --> 00:23:12,292 "There is no parallel in other religions. 420 00:23:12,333 --> 00:23:15,000 "If you had gone to Buddha and asked him, 421 00:23:15,042 --> 00:23:19,333 "'Are you the son of Brahma?' he would have said, 422 00:23:19,375 --> 00:23:23,292 "'My son, you are in the veil of illusion.' 423 00:23:23,333 --> 00:23:28,125 "If you had gone to Socrates and asked, 'Are you Zeus?' 424 00:23:28,167 --> 00:23:32,625 "he would have laughed at you. 425 00:23:32,667 --> 00:23:39,417 "If you had gone to Muhammad and said, 'Are you Allah?' 426 00:23:39,500 --> 00:23:44,542 he would have rent his clothes.'" 427 00:23:44,625 --> 00:23:50,750 But Jesus claims to be the God made flesh, 428 00:23:50,833 --> 00:23:55,250 and that is unique among the religions of the world. 429 00:23:55,333 --> 00:23:57,250 Now, candidly, if you were a Jewish leader, 430 00:23:57,333 --> 00:23:59,500 that might not have bothered you very much, 431 00:23:59,583 --> 00:24:01,792 to be unique among the religions of the world. 432 00:24:01,833 --> 00:24:06,167 But what bothers them so much is Jesus' claim that he is the one 433 00:24:06,250 --> 00:24:10,417 that makes this unique, that his presence is what is so important 434 00:24:10,500 --> 00:24:13,208 and not religion itself. 435 00:24:13,292 --> 00:24:14,917 Because if what Jesus is claiming, 436 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,125 that he is the Son of God and we hear as a consequence 437 00:24:18,167 --> 00:24:21,000 of his gift to us, not our qualification, 438 00:24:21,042 --> 00:24:25,333 then that just doesn't make Christianity unique, 439 00:24:25,375 --> 00:24:31,000 it makes all religions obsolete, including our own, 440 00:24:31,083 --> 00:24:33,292 including theirs. 441 00:24:33,333 --> 00:24:38,500 If Jesus is God as a gift to us, not for which we qualify, 442 00:24:38,583 --> 00:24:41,833 religion itself is obsolete. 443 00:24:41,875 --> 00:24:43,750 I mean, if you take the sociological definition 444 00:24:43,833 --> 00:24:48,833 of religion--the mastery of knowledge or practices, 445 00:24:48,917 --> 00:24:55,833 or a state of consciousness that unites the human 446 00:24:55,917 --> 00:25:00,667 with the divine--then Jesus is basically saying that is 447 00:25:00,750 --> 00:25:03,875 just not what he is about at all. 448 00:25:03,958 --> 00:25:07,583 But rather, he claims that we are made right with God, 449 00:25:07,667 --> 00:25:12,208 we're united to him, purely as a matter of giftedness, 450 00:25:12,292 --> 00:25:17,125 of grace, not what is a matter of competence, or performance, 451 00:25:17,167 --> 00:25:18,917 or consciousness. 452 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,917 That God is doing something separate from us 453 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:23,792 by his own great grace. 454 00:25:23,833 --> 00:25:25,917 That's really a triple gift 455 00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:28,583 that's described in this passage. 456 00:25:28,667 --> 00:25:31,000 The first aspect of the gift is in verse 28. 457 00:25:31,083 --> 00:25:37,125 Jesus said, "I give [to my sheep] eternal life." 458 00:25:37,167 --> 00:25:40,042 Now, if you're in kind of Western culture and you hear 459 00:25:40,125 --> 00:25:42,917 about a gift of eternal life, when eternal life comes 460 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:45,917 you're thinking about, okay, angel wings and living forever 461 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:48,167 on a cloud playing harps, you know? 462 00:25:48,208 --> 00:25:52,167 Which is not what the Jews meant at all when they talked about 463 00:25:52,208 --> 00:25:53,958 eternal life. 464 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:57,708 Eternal life was existence in union with God in his 465 00:25:57,792 --> 00:26:02,333 eternal kingdom, where relationships were made right, 466 00:26:02,375 --> 00:26:05,917 where God's peaceable rule was over all things, 467 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,833 where tears were no more, anxiety was no more, 468 00:26:08,875 --> 00:26:11,667 we were made right with one another and right with God, 469 00:26:11,750 --> 00:26:14,917 and that would be an eternal reality. 470 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:17,833 And Jesus is saying, "I am willing to make this available 471 00:26:17,875 --> 00:26:22,000 "to people purely as a gift, not because they qualify, 472 00:26:22,042 --> 00:26:24,625 "not because they earn it, not because they keep the law. 473 00:26:24,667 --> 00:26:28,417 I am willing to gift this to people." 474 00:26:28,500 --> 00:26:31,333 That's the first gift of eternal life. 475 00:26:31,375 --> 00:26:35,792 The second gift in this faith that Jesus is talking about is 476 00:26:35,833 --> 00:26:39,708 the gift of the sheep to Jesus. 477 00:26:39,792 --> 00:26:41,417 It's verse 29. 478 00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:45,833 Jesus says, "My Father, who has given [the sheep] to me, 479 00:26:45,875 --> 00:26:48,417 is greater than all." 480 00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:50,167 Now I know the language is strange, 481 00:26:50,208 --> 00:26:52,542 but I want you to think for a moment. 482 00:26:52,625 --> 00:26:56,542 If someone is very precious to you, 483 00:26:56,625 --> 00:26:59,167 it's actually your heart's desire to give them 484 00:26:59,208 --> 00:27:02,208 very precious things. 485 00:27:02,292 --> 00:27:08,375 And Jesus, who is the most precious child of God, 486 00:27:08,458 --> 00:27:14,875 says, "The Father gives my sheep to me." 487 00:27:16,292 --> 00:27:19,792 He is in some ways telling us how precious we are 488 00:27:19,833 --> 00:27:23,083 because we are God's gift to his Son. 489 00:27:23,167 --> 00:27:25,083 Now listen, sometime in a moment of arrogance, 490 00:27:25,167 --> 00:27:27,333 somebody's going to say to you in the future, 491 00:27:27,375 --> 00:27:30,000 "You just think you're God's gift to the world." 492 00:27:30,042 --> 00:27:31,625 Now, you need to deny that. 493 00:27:31,667 --> 00:27:34,125 You say, "No, I really don't think I'm God's gift 494 00:27:34,167 --> 00:27:35,500 "to the world. 495 00:27:35,583 --> 00:27:40,708 I just think I'm God's gift to Jesus," which you are. 496 00:27:40,792 --> 00:27:45,958 What God is expressing is that beyond our earning or deserving, 497 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,750 he has counted us precious. 498 00:27:49,833 --> 00:27:52,333 And this is not a matter of our qualification, 499 00:27:52,417 --> 00:27:55,833 but a matter of his grace toward his people who believe, 500 00:27:55,875 --> 00:27:59,333 and hear his word, and take it as reality. 501 00:27:59,375 --> 00:28:02,000 And there's of course one more gift in this triple gifting 502 00:28:02,083 --> 00:28:05,208 that's being described, and it is the gift of Jesus himself 503 00:28:05,292 --> 00:28:07,167 to the sheep, it's verse 36. 504 00:28:07,250 --> 00:28:10,833 Jesus, in fending off the stones, says, 505 00:28:10,875 --> 00:28:15,500 "Do you say of him whom the Father consecrated 506 00:28:15,583 --> 00:28:19,292 "and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' 507 00:28:19,333 --> 00:28:22,125 "because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?" 508 00:28:22,167 --> 00:28:25,292 Now you recognize that we're just in kind of this fending off 509 00:28:25,333 --> 00:28:27,083 of the stones, but Jesus is saying 510 00:28:27,167 --> 00:28:29,625 absolutely critical things. 511 00:28:29,667 --> 00:28:34,208 "I am consecrated by God and sent into the world 512 00:28:34,292 --> 00:28:36,333 "for my sheep. 513 00:28:36,375 --> 00:28:40,000 "I, the precious one of God, am myself a gift to my sheep, 514 00:28:40,042 --> 00:28:41,792 and I'm a gift because I'm consecrated." 515 00:28:41,833 --> 00:28:46,292 That means set aside for a purpose. 516 00:28:46,333 --> 00:28:51,917 And we know what that purpose is because earlier in this chapter, 517 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:55,292 Jesus has said, "The good shepherd lays down his life 518 00:28:55,333 --> 00:28:58,917 for the sheep," and he says, "I will lay my life down 519 00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:02,583 and I will take it up again." 520 00:29:02,667 --> 00:29:07,000 He has been consecrated and sent into the world to die, 521 00:29:07,042 --> 00:29:10,583 and he will die to lay down his life for the sheep to save us 522 00:29:10,667 --> 00:29:12,667 from the consequences of our own sin, 523 00:29:12,750 --> 00:29:15,083 and ultimately show that he was successful in that, 524 00:29:15,167 --> 00:29:17,250 to rise the victor over the grave. 525 00:29:17,333 --> 00:29:19,667 That great penalty for sin, death itself, 526 00:29:19,750 --> 00:29:21,167 has been conquered. 527 00:29:21,208 --> 00:29:24,167 And what Jesus is showing us by this work of saying, 528 00:29:24,208 --> 00:29:26,792 "I've been consecrated and sent by God," is to say, 529 00:29:26,833 --> 00:29:29,083 "I came on a mission. 530 00:29:29,167 --> 00:29:35,167 You were so precious to God that he sent me for you." 531 00:29:35,250 --> 00:29:37,333 And that's hard to receive, hard to believe. 532 00:29:37,417 --> 00:29:40,417 Maybe even harder to believe is what it means for Jesus 533 00:29:40,500 --> 00:29:43,333 to be sent into the world. 534 00:29:43,375 --> 00:29:45,500 He wasn't just sent above the world, 535 00:29:45,583 --> 00:29:48,625 he was sent into the world. 536 00:29:48,667 --> 00:29:52,500 He came as one of us, that Son of Man, 537 00:29:52,583 --> 00:29:58,167 to live a life of poverty, and difficulty, and heartache. 538 00:29:58,250 --> 00:30:01,167 He who was the king of glory, the maker of the universe 539 00:30:01,250 --> 00:30:05,583 would come and humble himself for our sake. 540 00:30:05,667 --> 00:30:09,208 Joan Osborne in the mid-90s created a little bit of a stir 541 00:30:09,292 --> 00:30:11,667 with a song whose lyrics were this, 542 00:30:11,750 --> 00:30:16,000 "What if God was one of us? 543 00:30:16,083 --> 00:30:19,167 "Just a slob like one of us. 544 00:30:19,250 --> 00:30:22,375 Just a stranger on the bus." 545 00:30:22,458 --> 00:30:25,167 Would you believe in that God? 546 00:30:25,250 --> 00:30:28,625 It's actually what the Bible is saying. 547 00:30:28,667 --> 00:30:34,333 He would come and be like us, in our humanity, 548 00:30:34,375 --> 00:30:36,667 to experience our pain, our heartache, 549 00:30:36,750 --> 00:30:39,708 so that the Bible said he could be touched with the feelings 550 00:30:39,792 --> 00:30:41,333 of our infirmities. 551 00:30:41,375 --> 00:30:43,167 He would know what we go through. 552 00:30:43,208 --> 00:30:45,167 And if it sounds somehow irreligious or irreverent 553 00:30:45,208 --> 00:30:47,167 to say, "A slob like one of us," 554 00:30:47,208 --> 00:30:49,458 remember that even the prophet Isaiah says 555 00:30:49,500 --> 00:30:52,458 he would have no form or majesty that we should 556 00:30:52,500 --> 00:30:55,125 even want to look at him, 557 00:30:55,167 --> 00:31:01,917 "no beauty that we should desire him." 558 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:08,000 But we hear him because we know he can hear us. 559 00:31:08,083 --> 00:31:11,083 It's the reality of a God who would come as human, 560 00:31:11,167 --> 00:31:14,833 that he would be God yet, and in experiencing all that we would 561 00:31:14,875 --> 00:31:17,292 go through, would be one who could actually hear us 562 00:31:17,333 --> 00:31:20,292 when we call out to him, and we call out to him 563 00:31:20,333 --> 00:31:22,708 because we have actually heard him. 564 00:31:22,792 --> 00:31:26,917 You are my God who loves me enough to come for me, 565 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:29,333 and I recognize there is no reason that I deserve 566 00:31:29,375 --> 00:31:31,917 your grace, and yet, God, you came for me. 567 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:33,500 I hear that. 568 00:31:33,583 --> 00:31:36,083 And when that reality is something that we hear, 569 00:31:36,167 --> 00:31:39,417 it begins to change us because we begin to believe what he 570 00:31:39,500 --> 00:31:42,458 is saying, and believing what he is saying means that we receive 571 00:31:42,500 --> 00:31:45,125 what he promises. 572 00:31:45,167 --> 00:31:47,542 After all, if we begin to analyze the Jewish leaders 573 00:31:47,625 --> 00:31:49,750 and we say, "What were they supposed to hear 574 00:31:49,833 --> 00:31:51,667 and why didn't they hear it?" 575 00:31:51,708 --> 00:31:53,958 This isn't written just for them long ago. 576 00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:57,958 Ultimately, the question is, "Why should we listen? 577 00:31:58,000 --> 00:32:00,792 Why should we hear what Jesus is saying?" 578 00:32:00,833 --> 00:32:02,500 That he is the Son of God, 579 00:32:02,542 --> 00:32:04,500 the reason that we have to hear that 580 00:32:04,542 --> 00:32:09,125 is we have to know who he is to receive what he promises. 581 00:32:09,167 --> 00:32:11,917 What is he promising? 582 00:32:12,000 --> 00:32:16,208 He is promising that he is the Lord God who came for us. 583 00:32:16,292 --> 00:32:20,792 Now, that has to be believed for the promises to make sense. 584 00:32:20,833 --> 00:32:22,625 After all, I recognize, and you do, 585 00:32:22,667 --> 00:32:24,500 that so much the reaction in our culture, 586 00:32:24,583 --> 00:32:27,208 which desires just to get along everybody with everybody, 587 00:32:27,292 --> 00:32:29,917 is just to claim, "Well, listen, I believe in Jesus. 588 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:31,667 "You know, good guy. 589 00:32:31,750 --> 00:32:34,875 "You know, great moral teacher. 590 00:32:34,958 --> 00:32:38,125 "You know, just don't do that Son of God stuff where, 591 00:32:38,167 --> 00:32:41,750 you know, you have some unique claim on faith." 592 00:32:41,833 --> 00:32:44,458 It won't wash. 593 00:32:44,500 --> 00:32:47,042 C.S. Lewis, you may remember, long ago said, 594 00:32:47,125 --> 00:32:50,958 "Those who claim that Jesus is just a good, moral 595 00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:55,625 "teacher will not deal with the facts in the Scriptures 596 00:32:55,667 --> 00:32:58,167 or in their own consciousness." 597 00:32:58,208 --> 00:33:00,333 What did Jesus claim? 598 00:33:00,375 --> 00:33:02,625 He claimed that he was the Son of God, 599 00:33:02,667 --> 00:33:04,292 that he was divine. 600 00:33:04,333 --> 00:33:06,208 He can't be just a good, moral teacher. 601 00:33:06,292 --> 00:33:08,000 Remember what Lewis said? 602 00:33:08,083 --> 00:33:11,667 He's either a lunatic--he's a human, but believes he's God, 603 00:33:11,750 --> 00:33:14,125 in which case he has all the credibility of somebody 604 00:33:14,167 --> 00:33:17,208 who believes he's a poached egg. 605 00:33:17,292 --> 00:33:22,583 He's either a lunatic or he knows he's not God 606 00:33:22,667 --> 00:33:27,500 but he claims it anyway, in which case he is a liar. 607 00:33:27,583 --> 00:33:29,500 What's the third alternative? 608 00:33:29,583 --> 00:33:33,000 Liar, lunatic, or Lord. 609 00:33:33,083 --> 00:33:34,917 He is who he says he is. 610 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:37,417 You can't just claim that Jesus was a good man, 611 00:33:37,500 --> 00:33:38,833 a good moral teacher. 612 00:33:38,875 --> 00:33:44,333 Either he's lying, or he's crazy, or he's Lord. 613 00:33:44,375 --> 00:33:46,458 He cannot be just a good man. 614 00:33:46,500 --> 00:33:51,333 Listen, whether you are in junior high, or in grad school, 615 00:33:51,417 --> 00:33:54,917 or a grandma, that will make sense, right? 616 00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,250 He cannot be just a good man. 617 00:33:57,333 --> 00:33:58,833 He's either liar, lunatic, or Lord. 618 00:33:58,917 --> 00:34:00,708 Now, let's just forget everything he says 619 00:34:00,792 --> 00:34:03,708 if he's a liar or a lunatic, but if he is Lord, 620 00:34:03,792 --> 00:34:07,292 why do we have to hear that? 621 00:34:07,333 --> 00:34:09,792 Because of what he's promising. 622 00:34:09,833 --> 00:34:12,333 He promises that he will save. 623 00:34:12,375 --> 00:34:16,000 The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 624 00:34:16,083 --> 00:34:22,625 He is consecrated and sent into the world for this very purpose. 625 00:34:22,667 --> 00:34:26,667 He has to be God or else he cannot save us from the reality 626 00:34:26,750 --> 00:34:30,708 of this world, which hurts us in so many ways, including our sin, 627 00:34:30,792 --> 00:34:34,875 but also the way we're sinned against. 628 00:34:34,958 --> 00:34:38,333 In our town recently, The Fray came and I listened to their 629 00:34:38,375 --> 00:34:43,000 most popular song, "How to Save a Life," 630 00:34:43,083 --> 00:34:45,667 with the awareness that some of you have of the origin 631 00:34:45,708 --> 00:34:48,458 of that song. 632 00:34:48,500 --> 00:34:52,833 As the leader of The Fray talks about having stayed up 633 00:34:52,917 --> 00:34:59,833 all one night to try to help an adolescent who was brilliant, 634 00:34:59,917 --> 00:35:05,292 and addicted, and suicidal, 635 00:35:06,833 --> 00:35:10,417 and ultimately not knowing how to help. 636 00:35:10,500 --> 00:35:14,083 You know the lyrics, "Where did I go wrong? 637 00:35:14,167 --> 00:35:18,583 "I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness. 638 00:35:18,667 --> 00:35:21,792 "And I would have stayed up with you all night 639 00:35:21,833 --> 00:35:25,708 had I known how to save a life." 640 00:35:25,792 --> 00:35:29,792 Jesus knows how to save a life. 641 00:35:29,833 --> 00:35:33,625 He knows that to be God for us, 642 00:35:33,667 --> 00:35:36,000 he would give himself upon a cross, 643 00:35:36,083 --> 00:35:38,917 and in doing so would take the penalty for the sin 644 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:43,667 that we deserved, and having paid the penalty would rise 645 00:35:43,708 --> 00:35:48,458 the victor over death itself to say, "I made it right." 646 00:35:48,500 --> 00:35:51,000 And now by his Spirit, he witnesses into our hearts 647 00:35:51,083 --> 00:35:53,667 of the reality and the truth of what he's done 648 00:35:53,708 --> 00:35:55,833 so that when we feel the weight of it, 649 00:35:55,917 --> 00:35:57,500 we will actually believe it. 650 00:35:57,583 --> 00:36:00,500 He has the means to make it right, and because he's God, 651 00:36:00,583 --> 00:36:04,333 he can do it. 652 00:36:04,375 --> 00:36:10,333 Now for some of us, we say, "I once believed that, 653 00:36:10,375 --> 00:36:17,333 "once that had weight in my heart, in my hearing, 654 00:36:17,375 --> 00:36:22,625 "but too much struggle, too much hurt, too much sin, 655 00:36:22,667 --> 00:36:24,875 "too much wandering. 656 00:36:24,958 --> 00:36:30,375 I'm not sure if it still applies to me." 657 00:36:30,458 --> 00:36:33,292 And that's why we need to recognize Jesus is not just 658 00:36:33,333 --> 00:36:36,708 saying that he came to save, but that he, because he is Lord, 659 00:36:36,792 --> 00:36:39,833 can also keep us. 660 00:36:39,875 --> 00:36:42,250 Not just save us, but keep us. 661 00:36:42,333 --> 00:36:45,542 There's this wonderful double grasp upon us that he describes 662 00:36:45,625 --> 00:36:47,708 in verses 28 and 29. 663 00:36:47,792 --> 00:36:50,333 Jesus says, "I give [my sheep] eternal life, 664 00:36:50,417 --> 00:36:52,333 "and they will never perish, 665 00:36:52,417 --> 00:36:56,750 "and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 666 00:36:56,833 --> 00:37:01,000 "My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, 667 00:37:01,042 --> 00:37:04,625 "and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 668 00:37:04,667 --> 00:37:08,375 I and the Father are one." 669 00:37:08,458 --> 00:37:12,625 As though there is this double grasp of the divine upon us, 670 00:37:12,667 --> 00:37:15,417 of the Son and the Father, who hold us. 671 00:37:15,500 --> 00:37:18,583 And we know we can fall, and we know that we fail, 672 00:37:18,667 --> 00:37:21,417 and we know we are faithless at times, but God says, 673 00:37:21,500 --> 00:37:26,417 though we are faithless, he abides faithful. 674 00:37:26,500 --> 00:37:28,708 "My grasp isn't enough to hold you, God," 675 00:37:28,792 --> 00:37:31,208 but his grasp holds us. 676 00:37:31,292 --> 00:37:34,167 It's the double grasp of the Father and the Son 677 00:37:34,250 --> 00:37:37,583 by which he says, "I not only have the ability to save you, 678 00:37:37,667 --> 00:37:40,458 but to keep you." 679 00:37:40,500 --> 00:37:42,542 Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century preacher 680 00:37:42,625 --> 00:37:44,333 said it this way. 681 00:37:44,417 --> 00:37:49,250 He said, "As a believer, you may fall on the ship of faith, 682 00:37:49,333 --> 00:37:55,167 but by Jesus Christ you do not fall off the ship of faith." 683 00:37:55,208 --> 00:37:56,667 We are held by him. 684 00:37:56,708 --> 00:38:01,208 I don't know if that makes reality known to you 685 00:38:01,292 --> 00:38:05,292 until I put it in real terms. 686 00:38:05,333 --> 00:38:10,500 I think of my brother, raised in a Christian home, 687 00:38:10,583 --> 00:38:14,500 affirmed in his high school years, many Christian things. 688 00:38:14,583 --> 00:38:20,000 He has been in prison and will be in prison for a long time. 689 00:38:20,042 --> 00:38:25,833 But it was actually the pain of going through the prison 690 00:38:25,875 --> 00:38:29,208 experience that reawakened him to what it would mean that if 691 00:38:29,292 --> 00:38:33,875 he could not hold onto God, God could hold onto him. 692 00:38:33,958 --> 00:38:37,917 He wrote recently of a Christmas card that he received, 693 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:43,208 and the card had these words, "It's nice to know that 694 00:38:43,292 --> 00:38:46,500 "some things never change. 695 00:38:46,542 --> 00:38:50,500 "We will always be family 696 00:38:50,583 --> 00:38:55,292 and you'll always be loved." 697 00:38:55,333 --> 00:38:58,500 And my brother wrote, 698 00:38:58,542 --> 00:39:03,167 "This so touched my heart 699 00:39:03,250 --> 00:39:08,292 because I know it's true." 700 00:39:08,333 --> 00:39:13,292 We'll always be family. 701 00:39:13,333 --> 00:39:17,042 Fault does not change relationship. 702 00:39:17,125 --> 00:39:20,542 And what God is saying through his Son is that when we 703 00:39:20,625 --> 00:39:25,083 have heard his voice and we, by hearing who Jesus is 704 00:39:25,167 --> 00:39:27,667 and having believed that, are made one with him, 705 00:39:27,750 --> 00:39:30,167 we are grasped by the Father and the Son. 706 00:39:30,208 --> 00:39:31,875 We're part of the eternal family. 707 00:39:31,958 --> 00:39:35,875 And we may fail, but that doesn't change the relationship. 708 00:39:35,958 --> 00:39:39,167 He holds us. 709 00:39:39,250 --> 00:39:41,917 And the reason that you and I have to hear that 710 00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:44,833 and receive that is too much can happen in life, 711 00:39:44,875 --> 00:39:48,708 our failures, the failures of others, the abuse 712 00:39:48,792 --> 00:39:51,708 that we experience, the trials that we go through, 713 00:39:51,792 --> 00:39:53,833 the hurt that we can't get rid of. 714 00:39:53,875 --> 00:39:57,000 We have to hear through all of that cacophony of the noise of 715 00:39:57,083 --> 00:40:00,917 this world the words of Jesus that say, "You are mine. 716 00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:04,917 "I gave myself for you because you are precious to the Father 717 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:09,708 and I will not let you go." 718 00:40:09,792 --> 00:40:11,667 And that's what gives us home. 719 00:40:11,750 --> 00:40:15,000 It allows us to be sustained in a world where the heartache 720 00:40:15,083 --> 00:40:20,500 can sometimes be so great and beyond our ability to cling. 721 00:40:20,542 --> 00:40:25,417 Matt Redman is a musician that some of you will know. 722 00:40:25,500 --> 00:40:27,417 Before the turn of this last year, 723 00:40:27,500 --> 00:40:32,167 he wrote on his Facebook page a response to a Twitter 724 00:40:32,250 --> 00:40:34,625 that he had seen, a Twitter that he thought 725 00:40:34,667 --> 00:40:38,833 was rather vacuous and empty. 726 00:40:38,875 --> 00:40:42,042 The Twitter message said this, "I cannot wait for the new year. 727 00:40:42,125 --> 00:40:46,042 It's going to be a great year." 728 00:40:46,125 --> 00:40:49,250 And Matt Redman responded, "My first thought was, 729 00:40:49,333 --> 00:40:54,000 'Well, that depends on how you describe great.' 730 00:40:54,083 --> 00:40:58,333 Last year," he says, "was a rough year for my family. 731 00:40:58,417 --> 00:41:02,208 "There's been a lot of loss and regret. 732 00:41:02,292 --> 00:41:05,792 "My father died. 733 00:41:05,833 --> 00:41:10,708 "We were financially wrecked by car repairs and health issues. 734 00:41:10,792 --> 00:41:13,833 "To be honest, I expected the year to open new opportunities 735 00:41:13,875 --> 00:41:19,875 "for a job for which I am better suited, but it never happened. 736 00:41:19,958 --> 00:41:22,708 "We wanted this year to be different than it was, 737 00:41:22,792 --> 00:41:25,292 "and that seemed possible because we've had years that 738 00:41:25,333 --> 00:41:28,667 "we could look back on and say, 'They were great!' 739 00:41:28,750 --> 00:41:33,500 "But this was not one of those years. 740 00:41:33,542 --> 00:41:37,833 "Maybe your new year will have all your dreams come true, 741 00:41:37,875 --> 00:41:41,542 "at least some of them be realized. 742 00:41:41,625 --> 00:41:45,958 "But it is possible that this year will not be 743 00:41:46,000 --> 00:41:48,750 "a great year for you. 744 00:41:48,833 --> 00:41:53,208 "It is possible you will experience severe emotional 745 00:41:53,292 --> 00:41:57,000 "and lasting pain because of tremendous loss. 746 00:41:57,083 --> 00:42:01,000 "It is possible physical pain will be a large part 747 00:42:01,042 --> 00:42:03,208 "of your year to come. 748 00:42:03,292 --> 00:42:07,500 "It is possible you will sin in ways that 749 00:42:07,583 --> 00:42:10,625 "you never thought possible. 750 00:42:10,667 --> 00:42:14,708 "It is possible you will lose your job and financial ruin 751 00:42:14,792 --> 00:42:17,625 "will rise like a specter in the dark of every night. 752 00:42:17,667 --> 00:42:20,708 "It is possible death will visit your door 753 00:42:20,792 --> 00:42:26,417 "or the home of one of your loved ones. 754 00:42:26,500 --> 00:42:29,583 "You may find yourself in sackcloth and ashes, 755 00:42:29,667 --> 00:42:31,417 "guessing the rating of the storm 756 00:42:31,500 --> 00:42:35,333 "that has devastated your life. 757 00:42:35,375 --> 00:42:38,833 "And despite what the prosperity preachers say, 758 00:42:38,875 --> 00:42:45,500 "you may have one of the worst years you've ever seen. 759 00:42:45,583 --> 00:42:52,458 "And yet, Christ is faithful. 760 00:42:52,500 --> 00:42:56,750 "He will not let you go. 761 00:42:56,833 --> 00:42:58,833 "He will not forsake you. 762 00:42:58,917 --> 00:43:00,833 "He will not abandon his people. 763 00:43:00,875 --> 00:43:04,000 "He will hold you, though your grip loosens on him. 764 00:43:04,083 --> 00:43:07,708 "The promises of our Sovereign God will remain unspoiled 765 00:43:07,792 --> 00:43:10,208 "in the heat of the hardest days. 766 00:43:10,292 --> 00:43:14,083 "And even when our palate cannot detect the goodness of God, 767 00:43:14,167 --> 00:43:19,125 his mercy will not be moved." 768 00:43:19,167 --> 00:43:21,125 This is my God. 769 00:43:21,167 --> 00:43:23,167 I want you to hear his voice. 770 00:43:23,250 --> 00:43:27,000 He sent his Son for you and his sheep hear his voice, 771 00:43:27,083 --> 00:43:29,917 and they know him, and they follow him because they 772 00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:32,625 recognize what he has done on their behalf. 773 00:43:32,667 --> 00:43:34,833 And believing that he is the Son of God, 774 00:43:34,875 --> 00:43:37,500 they recognize not only could he provide for them 775 00:43:37,583 --> 00:43:40,750 but he shall provide for them for eternity. 776 00:43:40,833 --> 00:43:46,250 And because we receive that, we have hope again, 777 00:43:46,333 --> 00:43:48,042 not because this world is unbroken, 778 00:43:48,125 --> 00:43:49,958 not because our lives are unfractured, 779 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:54,208 but because we have a God who came as one of us. 780 00:43:54,292 --> 00:43:56,250 And because he came as one of us, 781 00:43:56,333 --> 00:43:58,042 he knows what we experience 782 00:43:58,125 --> 00:44:03,375 and provides forever for us to be his own. 783 00:44:03,458 --> 00:44:06,667 It's what the Apostle Paul said, 784 00:44:09,875 --> 00:44:13,917 "I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, 785 00:44:14,000 --> 00:44:16,708 "nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, 786 00:44:16,792 --> 00:44:20,125 "nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 787 00:44:20,167 --> 00:44:23,583 "nor [anything else in all creation can] separate us from 788 00:44:23,667 --> 00:44:28,000 the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 789 00:44:28,083 --> 00:44:31,333 I want you to hear it so that you will receive it. 790 00:44:31,375 --> 00:44:34,917 It is the word of God, may it have weight in your heart that 791 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:40,750 you may have hope that his grip will never loosen on you. 792 00:44:40,833 --> 00:44:45,333 He can save you and he can hold you. 793 00:44:45,417 --> 00:44:51,125 Hear it, believe it, receive it. 794 00:44:55,708 --> 00:44:58,750 Heavenly Father, so work your gospel into our heart. 795 00:44:58,833 --> 00:45:03,167 We listen too, and sometimes the words are just 796 00:45:03,250 --> 00:45:06,000 the breeze going past us. 797 00:45:06,083 --> 00:45:11,208 For this day, give the words weight. 798 00:45:11,292 --> 00:45:15,292 Help us really hear them, the goodness of the gospel, 799 00:45:15,333 --> 00:45:18,792 of the God who came to save, who knows what we go through, 800 00:45:18,833 --> 00:45:24,625 and holds us, saves us, keeps us. 801 00:45:24,667 --> 00:45:29,792 This we hear, and believe, and receive. 802 00:45:29,833 --> 00:45:33,875 In Jesus' name, amen. 803 00:45:35,667 --> 00:45:37,000 Pastor Sutton Turner here. 804 00:45:37,042 --> 00:45:38,333 The sermon just finished 805 00:45:38,417 --> 00:45:41,292 and you can still play a role at Mars Hill church. 806 00:45:41,333 --> 00:45:45,292 Whether you're part of one of our local Mars Hill churches, 807 00:45:45,333 --> 00:45:48,667 or part of our global Mars Hill community, 808 00:45:48,708 --> 00:45:52,333 if you value this sermon, please consider making a donation 809 00:45:52,417 --> 00:45:56,917 by visiting marshill.com/give. 810 00:45:57,000 --> 00:46:00,083 Sermons like this are recorded and streamed for free 811 00:46:00,167 --> 00:46:03,208 to anyone interested in learning more about Jesus 812 00:46:03,292 --> 00:46:04,875 and living their faith. 813 00:46:04,958 --> 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