The Hour Has Come

Series called Sevens, John has placed a bunch of different themes in groups of sevens, pointing you to the idea that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Seven signs he performs, seven times Jesus says the phrase “I AM the light of the world, I am the bread of life.”

Seven Witnesses and testimonies to who jesus is.

Before we get into it, I want to mention two things.

2 Notes:

1. It’s not a secret code

2. Some have said “I would never notice these things if someone didn’t point it out to me

Encouragement: The way you start to know and undersand and notice things in the Bible is by first of All

Spend as much time in God’s word as you do with you spouse or best friend.

Example

Don’t go it alone

Use resources available to you.

I don’t come up with everything that I preach on my own. I read the Bible, I read study Bible’s and commentaries.

Because other people are reading the same Bible, and they’re noticing things about the text.

Hey, did you notice that John sure likes to talk about “Testimonies” a lot.

The more eyes you can get on the text the better. Learn from resources, read it with other people.

You read the Bible in a group, and they will point out things they noticed about it that you would have never seen before.

It’s meant to be read in community.

Roadmap

With all of that said, we’re going to work through the seven times the Book of John talks about Jesus’ Hour.

The Big Idea this morning is that Jesus is the promised king, the Son of God, who came to bring the whole world to God, set the perfect example for his followers, and give eternal life to those who know him.

I know that’s a mouthful. I’m going to put it up on the screen in Bullet points, to help make it a little easier to process.

Promised King

Son of God

Bring the world to God

Set the Perfect Example

Give Eternal Life

My hope, by now, is that you’re starting to see some repeated themes week after week. That repetition by John is not by accident. Because the entire book is built in order that the reader might

John 20:31 NIV

But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

If you have your Bible, turn with me to John 2, I’m going to leave our list on the screen here for just a little longer, while I read the text, so you can copy it down.

Body

John 2:1–4 NIV

On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

Jesus turns the water into wine, and a few weeks ago we read this verse:

John is setting up this theme, of Jesus’ Hour, and at this point in the Gospel, we’re not told what it means or what is it about.

Jesus says this sort of mysterious phrase to his mother at the Banquet, when she’s asking him to fix the wine problem, and he says “My Hour” has not yet come.

If you were reading this for the very first time, and you had no idea what was going to happen next it would be a bit confusing. What on earth is he talking about?

And what we’re going to find, is that in the way John presents this theme, he’s sort of drip feeding us the big idea related to the Hour of Jesus, that

He’s the Promised King, the Son of God, meant to bring all people to God, set the perfect example, and give eternal life.

So Jesus goes on, he attends a festival in Jerusalem, he talks to Nicodemus, he talks to a Samaritan woman, He displays two or three more signs or miracles. and then in chapter 6, Jesus says some really controversial stuff.

Jesus had Fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, and the people had come ‘round asking for more.

I mean if there was someone who could create wine out of water, and multiply bread, he’s going to be a pretty popular guy.

And so when the people arrive, Jesus says.

You know how back in the book of Exodus God provided Manna for the Israelites? How he made Bread just miraculously appear in the wilderness?

I am that Bread.

And they’re like what are you going on about Jesus.

And Jesus says,

John 6:53–58 NIV

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

For you and I, having perfect 20/20 hindsight, I think it’s very clear that Jesus is foreshadowing communion.

The Central point of Christian worship, being the Bread and the cup that represent the Body and Blood of Christ.

But at the time Jesus said it, The last supper hadn’t happened yet. and so a lot of people quit the Jesus movement. Some people stayed, and they were like, look I don’t understand it, but I’m willing to stick with Jesus. and other people were like

Nope, I’m out. This whole eat my flesh and drink my blood thing is too weird, I can’t handle it.

And so there became a bit of a major split over Jesus and his teachings.

And as Jesus’ ministry goes along and people are trying to sus out what they think about this Jesus fellow it says

John 7:25–30 NIV

At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill? Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.” At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.

Promised King

Here I want you to know, that every time you see the word “Messiah” or “Christ” in the Bible.

They are two words, one is Hebrew, one is Greek, they both mean “anointed one”

In biblical theology, the word anointed in this context means someone who is set apart and Chosen by God to be the King of Israel.

In the Old Testament, the act of anointing, was synonomous with declaring someone to be king.

And the Jewish People were promised that one day a King would return from the Line of King david, and rule on the throne forever.

Some people thought that the king was going to take the throne, overthrow the oppressors, and it was all going to happen so fast that nobody would even get a chance to find out who the guy even was, or where he came from. They looked at verses like”:

Malachi 3:1 NIV

“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

And they were like hey, it says “suddenly” like the whole annointed king. thing is just going to happen so quickly, that we’re not even going to know who he is by the time he’s here, and reigning over all israel. It’s going to be quick.

But then other people were looking at their Bible’s and looking at verses like

Micah 5:2 NIV

“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

and saying, well wait a minute, I thought the Messiah was going to come from Bethlehem.

But then other’s still, were like, you know what, Jesus is not the messiah, he’s just Demon posessed. And so they tried to seize him, but they couldn’t because “His hour had not yet come”

And so as the reader, you’re sort of left with this question, is he or isn’t he the promised king?

Application

The main thrust of the Gospel Message: When we say the word “Gospel” the Good news of Jesus, The good news that the New Testament presents is the fact that Jesus is King. Jesus is Lord.

I want to encourage you this morning to think about how you can submit to Jesus as Lord and King over your life. and give him full allegiance as the King and Lord over all creation.

But back in the book of John, you’re left with the question, is he or isn’t he?

And then, as we get into chapter 8, it happens again, while Jesus is telling the pharisees that he’s the son of God. We talked about this a little last week, the trhee witnesses Jesus gives for his divinity, the Works he was doing, the father himself, and the scriptures.

And that conversation surfaces again in chapter 8, and the pharisees ask Jesus

John 8:19–20 NIV

Then they asked him, “Where is your father?” “You do not know me or my Father,” Jesus replied. “If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” He spoke these words while teaching in the temple courts near the place where the offerings were put. Yet no one seized him, because his hour had not yet come.

Son of God

The claims that Jesus is making here, in their context, either they are 100% true, or he’s a heretic and needs to be dealt with.

Because you can’t make the claims he’s making if they’re not true.

If you’ve ever read C.S. Lewis, he points out the fact that if you just believe that Jesus was a good teacher.

Heck, even if you just believe he was the messiah, the promised king, but you don’t believe he’s the son of God, you’re making a grave mistake.

Lewis says Jesus gives us only 3 options. He’s either a Liar, and I don’t get the sense from Scripture that it was all a big hoax. People don’t typically ride a lie all the way to a death sentence.

Or he’s a Lunatic, and he was just crazy, because no sane person would go around claiming to be God in the flesh.

Or, it’s all true, and he’s Lord, he is in fact the son of God, God in the flesh.

So it’s only natural that the people who didn’t believe him would be angry. Because if it’s not true, then what Jesus is claiming about himself is dangerous.

And as Jesus goes on from there, he performs more signs pointing to who he is, he gets in more arguments with the pharisees.

He raises lazarus from the dead.

He rides into Jerusalem for the last time, riding in on a donkey.

We celebrate Palm Sunday for this occasion, As Jesus rides into town before his final week on earth.

And according to John, the first thing that happens when he gets into town, is some Greeks had come to Jerusalem

John 12:20-36

John 12:20–36 NIV

Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the festival. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went to tell Andrew; Andrew and Philip in turn told Jesus. Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The crowd that was there and heard it said it had thundered; others said an angel had spoken to him. Jesus said, “This voice was for your benefit, not mine. Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. The crowd spoke up, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever, so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

Here’s the bit that for you and I is probably the least controversial, but for the original audience would have been extremely controversial.

and the controverial part comes all the way back in verse 12, the first four words:

There were some Greeks.

Bringing the World to Christ

A little history about the relationship between the Jews and the Greeks.

And really, when we say Greeks, it’s sort of a stand in for “anyone who is not jewish”

The Jewish people had sort of an “us against the world” mentality. And it wasn’t un-earned.

During the 300 or so years before Jesus was born, in that section of history that fits right in between the Old and New Testament, a guy named Alexander the great Concquered pretty much all of the ancient world, and began to spread Greek culture everywhere he went.

And even when Alexander died, the momentum of what he did transformed the global landscape.

All of a sudden, Greek became the world’s culture. Greek language, greek philospophy, greek religion.

One guy, a king, named antiochus Epiphanes, even went so far as to go into Jerusalem and erect a statue of Zeus in the Temple.

He forced the Jewish people to eat foods that were unclean, and to bow down and worship the Greek gods.

and those who didn’t comply were publicly tortured until they either caved, or were killed.

Needless to say, during the time of Jesus, the Jewish people were not so crazy about outsiders.

Which is why it was so shocking to the original people, even the disciples...

Because when these greek people showed up to see Jesus, they didn’t take them to him right away, they were like, hold on, wait here, I gotta go check. because I’m not sure we really want to be associating with you.

so it was extremely shocking when the moment God chose to reveal that Jesus’ hour had finally come it wasn’t to his own people. IT was to a bunch of outsiders.

But what Jesus is doing here, by revealing himself to the Greeks, the outsiders, of all people, is revealing the idea that he is not Just the King of israel.

He is the one who is going to bring the entire world, Jews, Gentiles, and everyone in between to the one true God.

The Jesus movement is a global movement.

And in fact, At the end of Matthew’s account, Jesus specifiaclly tells his disciples:

Matthew 28:19 NIV

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

When you put your trust in Jesus as King, you are called to spread the message.

The mission, as hinted at here by Jesus revealing his coming hour to the outsiders, is that the disciples of Jesus are going to be sent on a disciple making movement.

It’s supposed to snowball into a world wide unstoppable movement of Jesus followers, one person at a time.

I want you to think about this mission of Jesus. This idea that it’s meant to be global, world-wide, and you, his disciples are the ones who are supposed to be setting this in motion.

And I want you to think about the Mission that you have.

Your mission is not simply to Be a disciple of Jesus.

That’s part of it. You definitely ought to be a disciple, a student, follower. That’s what we mean when we say “disciple”

Your mission isn’t even to “make disciples” of Jesus. That’s getting closer to the point of the mission.

I want you to think about Mission success for Jesus as “Making disciples who then go and make more disciples.”

I now a lot of you right now are in the process of one of those first two steps. Either Becoming a disciple, or making disciples.

I want to encourage you this morning to turn that up a notch, and make your goal, not just being a disciple, not just making disciples.

But asking yourself the question, Are my disciples making disciples? Are their disciples in turn making disciples.

That’s the mission of Jesus that we’re on.

Jesus is the Promised king, he’s the son of God, he was sent to bring the entire world to God.

Our next reference here, shows that he was sent to be the perfect example.

The Perfect Example

John 13:1–5 NIV

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

I want to tie this back into our previous point: Making disciples who make other disciples, bringing the entire world to God through Jesus.

I would bet, for a lot of you, that proposition sounds terrifying.

For a lot of us, the idea of mentoring someone, leading someone else through the faith is terrifying because you might think “You, know I’m not that good of an example to follow”

I don’t want to lead people astray, I don’t want them to follow my example, look at all the mistakes I’ve made, look at all the flaws I have. Maybe someone else is better suited to lead people to Jesus.

Because I don’t feel like I set a good enough example for them to follow.

Guess what, you’re not the example they’re supposed to be following.

You’re not out to make Disciples of Brenda. I’m not making “disciples of Josh”

I’m making disciples of Jesus.

Which means I get to point people to HIS perfect example. Not mine.

Later on in chapter 13, after Jesus washes their feet he says

John 13:15 NIV

I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

When you set out to make disciples who then go and make other disciples, the focus ought to be on pointing to the perfect example of Jesus.

And when you point them to examples of Jesus and they’re like, Man, I’m really struggling with this example.

I’m really struggling with Forgiving the way Jesus forgives. I’m really strugling with Loving my enemies the way Jesus loved his enemies.

It’s ok for you to say, yeah, I struggle with that too.

Because again, it’s not your example they need to follow.

It’s OK, to say, yeah, I haven’t figured that out either. But isn’t it great that we both get this perfect example of Jesus that we can both strive toward together.

And then you can tell them, I want you to remember that and tell it to the next person that you go and make into a disciple of Jesus.

Jesus is the Promised king, The son of God, who was sent to bring the whole world to God through him, and he sets the perfect Example....

And our last point.

He came to bring eternal life.

Chapter’s 13-17 make ups what’s called the “upper room” discourse. It’s basically 5 straight chapters of Jesus teaching his disciples.

Preparing them to go and make more disciples.

Encouraging them that the Holy Spirit is going to help them in this process.

And when he gets finished speaking to them, chapter 17 1 says

John 17:1–5 NIV

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

Eternal Life

And finally here, at the end of the book, we get the payoff. What’s the point of all of these “hours” this idea that he’s the king, the son, the one who sets the perfect example. Why?

So that he might give eternal life.

And Jesus in his prayer specifically tells us exactly what Eternal life is:

That we may know The one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

Conclusion

I started off this morning talking about how we ought to spend as much time in the Bible as we do with our best friend.

I want to expand that idea.

Spend as much time with God as you would your best friend.

Get to truly Know God. Get to truly know Jesus.

Because that’s where eternal life comes from.

Think about the person you know the best.

You know their habits, you know what they like, you know what they dislike. You know what makes them laugh, you know what makes them mad.

You’ve spent so much time together you have inside jokes. and stories that only the two of you understand.

That’s not something that happens overnight.

You only get that type of relationship by spending time with that person day after day after day.

You go through good times with them, you go through bad times with them.

That’s how well you should seek to know God.

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