The Promise(s) Of Jesus

A hot air balloonist got blown way off course. Realizing how lost he was he decided to lower altitude to see if he could get some help from someone on the ground. He saw a large wilderness expanse but luckily he noticed a hiker so he called out:

"Hello! I was supposed to meet my friends hours ago but unfortunately I got blown off course and have no idea where I am. Can you help me?"

The hiker replies:

"You are floating about 25' above a small clearing in the Allegheny National Forrest and you're about an hour and a half north of my camp site."

Frustrated the balloonist yells down:

"You must be an engineer"

"How did you know that?" The hiker responded with surprise!

The balloonist said "because while everything you said is technically correct, it is of absolutely no use to me and I am still lost!"

"I get it, you must be a contractor." Said the hiker.

How did you know that?" The balloonist responded equally surprised.

"Well you don't know where you are or where you're going, you have made promises you can't keep and you're in the exact same position you were in before we met....But now it’s my fault."

Historical/Cultural Context -

The Gospel of John was written between 90 AD and 100 AD. Scholars also believe that John wrote the three Epistles and the book of Revelation around the same time-frame as he wrote this Gospel. The Gospel of John was written after Matthew, Mark, & Luke had been written and circulated. John has been dubbed by most scholars as “The Spiritual Gospel.”

Biblical Text -

John 10:22–42 NKJV

Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.” Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?” The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand. And He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed. Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.” And many believed in Him there.

-[Prayer]-

Life Principle - Jesus Has Given Us Great Promises & You Should Believe In Him.

Life Point- What Are The Promises of Jesus?

Exegetical -

John 10:22–30 NLT

It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Homiletical -

The Feast of Dedication is a feast to honor the re-purification and reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem where a man named Judas Maccabeus dedicated the new altar. It had to be rededication because Antiochus Epiphanes had desecrated the old one by decreeing pagan sacrifices on it.

So Jesus is walking around and the people, as you know, are deeply divided about Him. They want Him to speak plainly whether or not He is the Messiah. Now, if that were me. I would have answered yes, or no. Whereas Jesus’ answer is more detailed and a little veiled.

John 10:25–30 NLT

Jesus replied, “I have already told you, and you don’t believe me. The proof is the work I do in my Father’s name. But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”

Jesus already told them as much and gave them the signs to prove it. Yet they still don’t believe. There are many people you will come across even today who will see signs of God’s work and yet do not believe. But Jesus says that those who do believe will receive a promise. The promise of eternal life.

Eternal Life: Eternal life has a beginning but no end. You will cross over to eternity either to life or death. You chose which it will be here, now, on earth.

Jesus was setting before them an old choice, yet a new one. You see Life is found only in Him. Salvation comes by way of His crucifixion and subsequent resurrection.

John 14:6 NLT

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

It is an old choice in that God had already given the Jews the Choice back in deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

He also promises that the believer will not be snatched from His Hand.

This promise we know He can keep because he just said that He and the Father are one. If They are one, then there is no one higher in all of creation or outside of creation that can take us from His hand.

Romans 8:31–39 NLT

What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Who can separate us from His love? No one. But we need to make sure we are truly apart of His sheepfold before we can rest in this promise.

Illustration -

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;

Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:

For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,

On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,

Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:

Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;

Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,

And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;

The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth;

The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,

His kingdom is forever.

Life Point - Why We Should Believe Him

Exegetical -

John 10:31–42 NLT

Once again the people picked up stones to kill him. Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?” They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.” Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’ And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world. Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father.” Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them. He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile. And many followed him. “John didn’t perform miraculous signs,” they remarked to one another, “but everything he said about this man has come true.” And many who were there believed in Jesus.

Homiletical -

So Jesus causes another uproar among the Jews because He claims to be God. So much so, that they take rocks to stone Him to death. Yet He asks for what work or miracle do they stone Him for.

None they reply but because He is a man yet makes Himself equal with God.

Did you know that there is a movement in the world where they will literally tell you that Jesus never claimed to be God? Well, they’re wrong. He claims it right here. He claims He is God. You know what, He is God. to deny the deity of Christ is to deny the Gospel.

Philippians 2:5–11 NLT

You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus now quotes Psalm 82:6

Psalm 82:6–7 NLT

I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’ ”

This Psalm is talking about human rulers, like a magistrate. God is calling on the rulers to be just and to remember that it is He who makes all judgements correctly and that human rulers would do well to judge rightly or suffer consequence.

The magistrate is a god, lowercase “g” meaning that he has power over other human beings, but is Himself subject to God with an uppercase “G.” He must be sure that while he yields much power, as a leader among men, He is nowhere near as powerful as God Himself.

By using this scripture in the old Testament Jesus calls the Jews to remember that the scripture uses the same term to describe people who aren’t God but merely have power over others, and if they aren’t God, yet God calls them as a type before men, How much more does this term apply to the one who truly is God in the flesh. If that be the case, then why would you stone Him?

You wouldn’t for He has said nothing wrong.

Upon hearing this the people attempt to arrest Him to bring His case before the rulers. But Jesus escapes rather than let himself be captured.

Yet from this group many followed Him because of the testimony of John the Baptist. Everything John said would come to pass about the messiah Jesus fulfilled and this is why we can follow Him

There is not one prophecy about His first coming that has not been fulfilled. We can trust that the testimony is true as the prophecies span hundreds of years through multiple writers of the books of the Bible and they all confirm that Jesus is the Savior of the World, the second in the trinity. He is God made manifest in flesh. The one who died for our sins and rose again on the third day.

Life Principle–

Call to Action – altar call….

Related Media

Related Sermons