Look back at what lies ahead
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Read Scripture
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22 It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. 23 He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 The people surrounded him and asked, “How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” 25 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. 26 But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 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. 30 The Father and I are one.” 31 Once again the people picked up stones to kill him. 32 Jesus said, “At my Father’s direction I have done many good works. For which one are you going to stone me?” 33 They replied, “We’re stoning you not for any good work, but for blasphemy! You, a mere man, claim to be God.” 34 Jesus replied, “It is written in your own Scriptures that God said to certain leaders of the people, ‘I say, you are gods!’ 35 And you know that the Scriptures cannot be altered. So if those people who received God’s message were called ‘gods,’ 36 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. 37 Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. 38 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.” 39 Once again they tried to arrest him, but he got away and left them. 40 He went beyond the Jordan River near the place where John was first baptizing and stayed there awhile. 41 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.” 42 And many who were there believed in Jesus.
What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
What does it mean to believe in Jesus?
Introduction -
Introduction -
Looking at the big picture. Video
Sometimes our circumstances or other factors in life give us tunnel vision. We lose site of the big picture. It is in times like this personally that I most acutely feel the world revolves around me and it is broken somehow things should be going better for me or I shouldn’t have to deal with the problems I am facing it is not fair. At times like this I am tempted to ignore God or even accuse him of not caring or not being fair with me. It is at times like this we need perspective, we need help to deal with whatever it is we are facing, and for me most of the time i need to come back to trust, to believing that Jesus is doing what is right, and that He is at work in me to bring about his glory, to make me more like Him, not to grant me wishes or enable me to do it My way. John wrote this book so that we would believe, not believe in Jesus, but believe that He is the Chosen one sent by God and in that believing we would have life. What does it mean to believe, not in Jesus, but to believe Jesus. Who is helping you to see all the angles? How can you gain perspective on where you are at? Lets listen to Jesus being confronted by those who are seeking to kill him, He is a great teacher, I believe His words intentionally transcend time and in understanding the big picture here we see Jesus more clearly.
Big picture -
22 It was now winter, and Jesus was in Jerusalem at the time of Hanukkah, the Festival of Dedication. 23 He was in the Temple, walking through the section known as Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 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 arrives on the scene as the stage is set for His work to be done, just as the prophets foretold, just as the signs indicated, just at the right time in history to accomplish His plan for redeeming his people, to rescue us from sin and death.
How can we relate to this question they are asking? I see time and time again the idea of faith and belief being trashed, mischaracterized, misused, taken out of context and here it comes again. This question to Jesus, how long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the messiah tell us plainly?
This question is part of a bigger picture than we are aware of at first glance. sometimes it is our life experiences which are shading our persepective, we have been beaten down so many times we have a had time looking up. We have been mistreated or damaged so much that we think it is our fault or our lot in life. Our problems can grow so large that they block out the light. Or maybe everything is going great and we are on a mountain top living it up, not a problem in the world. What do we need God for now?
This passage starts with a question born out of history but mired in the present. This question seeks to put a religious label on a political question.
Like the old saying being played out in front of us. Someone says look at that beautiful forest and we look over responding I can’t see the forest because all those trees are blocking it. Their tunnel vision flows from the history surrounding the festival of dedication or, Hanukkah.
Long story short a few hundred years earlier Jerusalem was overrun and occupied by Antiochus Epiphanes a harsh Syrian ruler. A Brutal conqueror who would force people to convert to his form of religion. He had come into Jerusalem and begun torturing people for not turning from their Jewish religion. He turned the temple into a place of worship of Greek God’s and profane things. He killed countless people sparking a rebellion lead by the Macabees. For three years they fought an eventually retook Jerusalem. They rededicated the temple to God remaking all the needed implements but could not find enough pure olive oil for the lampstand in the temple. Eventually they found a jar which only had enough oil for one day but it burned for 8 days. This became the Jewish Holiday of Hanukkah, and had become tradition by the time of Jesus. Imagine now this question under the Roman occupation of Jerusalem, they could still perform their jewish religion but not without Roman supervision and authority watching them. It was a precarious situation. During Hanukkah they remembered God’s deliverance from occupation a scene which mirrored their own. This question then are you the Messiah has all this history behind it. Jesus however is not here to make the temple great again, he has come as one greater than the temple and the Roman Empire itself. He was not their political deliverer he was the king of Kings, the Son of Man, The Son of God, the promised one spoken of in their own scriptures. However their situation and circumstances conspired to keep them from seeing who Jesus really is. To keep them from believing Him.
25 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. 26 But you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 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. 30 The Father and I are one.”
He responds I already told you...
He responds I already told you...
These are the teachers who know that Jesus knows they should know who he is but pretend not to know because they know the Messiah will take their places of power and prestige.
How Has God told us? When we lose sight of Him we can look back, when we are tempted to trust someone or something else we can look back at God and understand His work to understand the big picture and where we fit in.
What does it mean to believe? It means seeking to understand the big picture starting with scripture the place God chooses to wrap his truth in History. He gives us his story so we can find ourselves in it, in the big picture and be reminded that it is not about us, our family, our prosperity, our health, it is about God being glorified by a people who do not take revenge on the Romans, but rather love their enemies and become transformed into Christlikeness. In this humbling revelation that we are not the main point, we can find rest.
We also find relationship. “My Sheep listen to my voice and they follow me.”
In fact Jesus is re enforcing this truth. He is the main character but each of us is known and has a place in His story, which has become our story. It is this perspective we are missing. This brings meaning to our lives because we discover purpose from a loving Father who give us as a gift into a community of people who will be blessed and strengthened by our participation.
Make no mistake Jesus is talking to a group of people who He knows are plotting to kill him. Jews with a capital J means the leaders of the Jewish people, not just an ethnic Group. Jesus and his disciples could also be called Jews. These are not honest truth seekers their question like I said is political.
You are not my sheep...
I know them by hand and they follow me
Jesus is known by his work and by his trusting obedience, - I'm going to need you to trust me. the belief we are talking about here is based on relationship. who would you do a trust fall with? video of girl falling forward? - We have failed to do the works of God to believe (trust) jesus and follow Him, We have not listened to his voice.
New Living Translation Chapter 10
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.
What does it mean to believe? To listen.
How much time have you spent listening? It takes patience. Each day we condition ourselves to not have patience by walking around with mini super computers always connected to instant gratification. That will not be the way to listen to the voice of the Shepherd. If you start your day by looking at your phone beware that thing will become your shepherd and lead you into unhealth.
Jesus knows their concept of listen was not just to have ones ears process the soundwaves and register that with the brain. It is the concept of hear and obey or as Jesus says here listen and follow.
What does it mean to believe? it is to take action based on trust. Notice he says I know them, and they follow me.
Trust fall.
Jesus is more reliable than any of your BFFs.
Back to the big picture, the Father gave them to me. And no one can snatch them from me. When you are in you are in, because it is Grace that brings us into wholeness/salvation through faith. God chooses a people for himself, and it is mysterious to us, but we can take great solace in God’s powerful hand holding onto us.
31 Once again the people picked up stones to kill him.
Jesus questions his mortal enemies.
If I sing out a few lines of a song - Jesus loves me....
Father abraham...
We memorize song lyrics whether we like to our not.
This is what jesus does here in quoting this Psalm to them Psalm 82. His argument is that it is not blasphemy to call himself the son of God when as they all know the scriptures are calling men god’s, and he is only calling himself the son of God… He destroys their argument and the only real charge they had against Him.
A psalm of Asaph. 1 God presides over heaven’s court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings: 2 “How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked? Interlude 3 “Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. 4 Rescue the poor and helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people. 5 But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core. 6 I say, ‘You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. 7 But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.’ ” 8 Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you.
He knows who they are, these are his enemies who wish him dead. Yet here we see Jesus extending an invitation even to them
36 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. 37 Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. 38 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.”
They know the Father’s work and have seen Jesus continue it. With all they have seen they know who He is. These things haven’t just happened they are part of God’s work, connected to His story, and paint the big picture for these men to see. He is asking them to look past his rough exterior to God’s plan and they will understand.
But they decide to kill him. These men knew what the claims Jesus was making meant. Jesus is telling them and us that He and The Father are one, they do the same works, they are unified in what Jesus is doing. Jesus is teaching us that He is God. He is the author and perfector of our faith, of the scriptures, of His Story.
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 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. 30 The Father and I are one.”
It has been said due to His impact on history, on the big picture, that He is either a Liar, a lunatic, or The Lord. Jesus delivers his message even to these enemies with compassion but also clarity. He is claiming to be God they did understand that part.
Jesus is Lord. This great God condescended to the earth became a man and lived among us. This Jesus has experienced all the things we have experienced. We get caught up in our situations and begin looking at ourselves we tire of caring for others and wish someone would care for us, we lose sight of Jesus and things seem dark. But this Jesus never lost sight of his purpose, of the Father’s plan.
6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 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, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names,
We like sheep have gone astray but Jesus never wavered from marching toward his death on the cross in perfect obedience He prayed:
42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Jesus is writing producing and directing the big picture, He is aware of our weakness and offers grace and faith to his sheep. Can you trust Jesus again, will you open your heart and listen to his voice He is inviting all who will believe. In whatever situation you find yourself in look to jesus the Good shepherd for guidance by faith.
What does it mean for you to believe Jesus today? How is it accomplished?
It happens together with others, It requires devotion to Him, it is laid out in His story. Look back at His works, Listen today to His voice, and keep your eyes on Jesus, the Lord who gives eternal life with a close relationship Jesus knows you and is speaking today.
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.