Christ's Constant Which Comforts - part 3

Tell the story of Bishop Odin “comforting” his troops in Bayeaux tapestry depicting Alfred’s forces fighting those of William the Conqueror.

Tell the story of Bishop Odin “comforting” his troops in Bayeaux tapestry depicting Alfred’s forces fighting those of William the Conqueror.

So far we’ve outlined the last half of ---

So far we’ve outlined the last half of ---

--- With Jesus at the Feast of Dedication --- like this:

The Cultural Context vv.22-23

The Crooked Con-Job v.24

The Confounding Counter vv.25-27

The Constant which Comforts vv.28-30

And this is my final message on the constant thing provided by Christ, by His Person & by His Work, which provides strength and stability to all true believers.

In fact, you could just make today’s topic a separate heading, if you like, for one of the most important verses in the Bible!

The Cultural Context vv.22-23

The Crooked Con-Job v.24

The Confounding Counter vv.25-27

The Constant which Comforts vv.28-29

The Central Claim v.30

PRAY

Is Jesus God? That’s the great question provoked in us whenever anyone by reads John’s Gospel.

Is Jesus fully divine? Is He co-equal with God?

In , Jesus certainly teaches something which means that He is...

AND He does this using just six words, not only in our English translation, but in the 6 words which were originally superintended by the Spirit from the heart of the apostle John ...in 6 Spirit-guided words written down in John’s original koine Greek gospel late in the C1st.

“I and the Father are one,” Jesus says (v.30).

Because of their obvious importance, these words and their context deserve your careful consideration ...and your personal response.

First of all, what do these 6 words mean?

One in Purpose

One in Power & Virtue

One in Essence/Nature

ssence

One in Purpose

One in Essence

irst of all, what do these 6 words mean?

What did Jesus mean when he said, I & my Father are one?

NOT One Person

On a Negative Note:

It’s clear that there is something which they do NOT mean:

John is led by the Spirit of Christ to use a neuter form of the word “one” here. If he had been recording that Christ’s claim was a claim to be the same Person as was the Father …that there was only one PERSON not two distinguishable persons …then John would have made the gender of the substantive adjective one a masculine not neuter form.

John would have said one personal being not one thing.

So, NO, Jesus is not claiming that there is ONE personal being;

He’s saying the same sort of thing He later led John to write in 90 something AD That in the beginning the person who is titled “the Word” was a distinct person from the person in the Godhead with whom He was face to face in eternity past.

BUT on a Positive Note “Exactly what IS John recording just here of Jesus’ claims?”

On a positive note:

It’s clear that several things MUST be implicitly taught by Jesus’ claims taken in their context:

YES, in part, “One in Purpose”

We can begin by saying that, at the very least, Jesus was claiming to be one with the Father in the matter of His Father’s will/purpose.

This comes straight out of the context, for Jesus had been speaking of the security of believers and He had just said that it was the will of both the Father and of Himself to keep His true Sheep secure.

True Sheep, genuine believers, would never perish, first, because no one could snatch them out of His own hand and, second, because no one could snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

Someone might have imagined that the will of the Father and of the Son might not be in perfect alignment in this matter of preserving believers.

But Jesus makes this very difficult to entertain by His passionate teaching that it is precisely in this purpose that they are united …all hands on board!

United In … OR One In … Ministry

Because of this unity, truly saved believers know that when we see Jesus working, we see God working, and we know that God the Father is just like Jesus in His purposes and character...

On the other hand, the phrase “I and the Father are one” obviously also means more than this sort of unity, for only a full claim to divinity by Jesus explains the manner in which the leaders reacted to Jesus’ statement.

What was their reaction? We’re told that “the Jews picked up stones to stone him” (v.31) ...for blasphemy

Why did they do this?…because they perceived Jesus to be saying something derogatory about God.

Clearly, because they saw that Jesus’ statement was not only a claim to be one with the Father in respect of his purpose but also to be one with Him in His implied claim to have the very same order of power as God to bring His purpose to pass—

“no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand,” He said and, “no one can snatch them out of my hand”—and what a claim that is for Jesus Himself to make!

Jesus’ statement was the same as claiming to have the very power and virtue and rights as God, the Father of Israel, Himself!

One in Power & Virtue

Why do I say that Jesus is being seen as claiming the very same virtue & power of God the Father?

Hence Jesus IS “One in Essence/Nature” with His Heavenly Father

Χ Θ \ Jesus IS “One in Essence/Nature” with His Heavenly Father

Read with me from the forty-ninth (NASB95)

Read with me from the forty-ninth (NASB95)

(NASB95)

7 No man can by any means redeem his brother

Or give to God a ransom for him—

7 No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him— 8 For the redemption of his soul is costly, And he should cease trying forever— 9 That he should live on eternally, That he should not undergo decay.

8 For the redemption of his soul is costly,

And he should cease trying forever—

9 That he should live on eternally,

That he should not undergo decay.

The Jewish people knew quite clearly that when Jesus spoke of His being able to save His peers from death & corruption & sin …that He was claiming not only an a wonderful role but the very role of their saving God; He was claiming not only power but the very virtue and prerogatives of God Himself!

His acquaintances who knew His language understood...

They knew He was doing of that sort, way back earlier on:

John 5:18–30 NASB95

For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel. “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. “For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. “For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

John 6:41–58 NASB95

Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. “Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. “I am the bread of life. “Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. “This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.” Then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. “This is the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

John 6:41-

John 8:42–59 NASB95

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. “Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? “He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. “But I do not seek My glory; there is One who seeks and judges. “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.” The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets also; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste of death.’ “Surely You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too; whom do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

John 10:11–18 NASB95

“I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. “He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who is not the owner of the sheep, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. “He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd. “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.”

In terms of the claims Jesus is making for Himself:

I terms of the claims Jesus is making for Himself:

All this is the same as saying that the Son is one in essence & nature with the Father

Four important conclusions follow from this truth concerning Jesus’ nature: (1) we have the knowledge of God in him, for he is God; (2) we have forgiveness of sins in him, for his death had infinite merit in atoning for sin; (3) we have victory over circumstances in him, for he lived above circumstances; and (4) we have triumph over death in him, for he rose from the dead and has promised to so raise all whom the Father has given to him, that is, all who believe on him and have eternal life (, , ).

...that they are equal in power and virtue and dignity and glory.

There are 4 important conclusions from this truth concerning Jesus’ nature:

(1) we have the knowledge of God in Jesus, for He is God;

(2) we have forgiveness of sins in Jesus, for His death had infinite merit in atoning for sin;

(3) we have victory over circumstances in Jesus, for He lived above circumstances; and

(4) we have triumph over death in Jesus, for He rose from the dead and has promised to so raise all whom the Father has given to him, that is, all who believe on him and have eternal life (, , ).

This is not a “pie-in-the-sky” philosophy. It directly affects our life now.

Let me illustrate how that can happen with this poem which was written by a parishioner who died of cancer.

The death of this woman was a prolonged affair, accompanied by great pain.

But she was not bitter.

On the contrary, her speech was full of praise as she thought of Jesus, the one through whom she had come to a knowledge of God and who was even then preparing a place for her in heaven.

Her son Peter passed on this poem to the church leaders six months before her death:

I read the Psalms when yet my eyes could read

And I discovered, oh, so many ways,

That the great psalmist felt the urge and need

To magnify his God in songs of praise.

Praise is an effort—both when times are good

And happiness fills our hearts

And in dark times not fully understood.

Then it is hard to say: “I’ll praise, I will.”

I will—a conscious effort. I will praise!

I will love Thee! I will extol!

I will rejoice and make a joyful noise!

Yes, I will praise Thee, Lord, with heart and soul.

But once the songs of praise roll off my tongue

I’ll serve the Lord with gladness and with joy.

But more than that—I may not praise alone.

Praise ye the Lord; ye nations, praise His name.

Sing of His mercy. Make His goodness known.

A testimony like that doesn’t j. roll off someone’s tongue.

It comes thru’ a knowing—an experiencing—of the love of Θ, as Θ is seen & known in the Lord Jesus.

So that is why I’ve chosen to break off our exposition of …and not get into the way in which religious hierarchy people are tempted to dispute and silence the majestic claims of Jesus …as they do here (and in the next chapter).

Belief and Good Works

The fact that Jesus made a claim to be God is not the same as proving it, of course. And the fact that it needed to be proved is seen by the reaction of his listeners. They dismissed it outright and were ready to stone Christ for having spoken it. But was there proof? Was there evidence that Jesus is who he said he is? In the verses that follow Jesus responds to these questions with three lines of argument.

First, he told his opponents that he had done nothing to merit stoning. He said, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” (v. 32). This was a perfectly valid argument. We recognize the force of it when we refuse to judge a person until we see what he can do. A man may claim to be a good worker, but we do not conclude that he is one until we see him at work. A child may claim to have been good while the mother was out shopping, but the mother does not accept the claim at face value until she sees the condition of the living room. So it was with the Lord Jesus Christ. He had made a great claim. All right! What was the evidence? Was the claim unverified or was it backed up by works? We all know the answer. Jesus had healed the sick, raised the dead, cured lepers, taught the multitudes. For which of these works did they reject his claim, then? For which of these were they attempting to stone him?

Strangely enough, his opponents reacted to this argument by reversing it, which we know to be wrong. “We are not stoning you for any of these,” they said, “but for blasphemy.” In other words, they were willing to skip over the issue of whether his works backed up his words, so intent were they on his destruction.

Today there is not quite the same movement to do away with Christ physically—he is not here to be crucified—but the argument is voiced by many who will not have him to be God in their lives. They will admit that he did good works, but they will not accept him as God; they will not consider whether his works support his claim to be divine. One woman who thought this way, declared, “I do not doubt that Jesus was a good man and did many wonderful things, but I will not accept the claim that he is God. I will not follow him.”

Because the Jewish leaders thought this way, Jesus introduced another argument. What they were doing was willfully rejecting his words. So Jesus next showed that there was nothing about his words for which they could fault him either. Here’s how he put it, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are gods’? If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son?’ ” (vv. 34–36).

I want to admit, before we get into these verses, that the argument that they contain is a difficult one for most contemporary people to understand. For one thing, it is obviously a rabbinic argument, which means that it depends upon distinctions that were of great importance to the rabbis but that seem at best to be of minor importance to people today. For another thing, the drift of the argument seems to be in the opposite direction from what we understand Christ to have been saying previously. He was claiming to be God in a unique and absolute sense; but in these verses he seems to be watering down the claim by saying that he meant no more by it than what the Old Testament means when it applied the word “gods” to men. What are we to do in the face of these difficulties? How do we begin to understand Christ’s argument?

We need to turn to the text he is quoting and see what the words mean there. Jesus is quoting from the eighty-second psalm, and when we turn to it we discover that the phrase “You are gods” (v. 6) is used of the judges of Israel. The judges in this psalm are called gods, not because they are divine but because they act as God in their role as judges. They are consecrated to a special task, indeed a holy task; and in God’s name they exercise authority and power. “Now,” says Jesus, “I too have been sent into this world by God the Father and that for a specific task. In that task I exercise authority and power, just as the judges of Israel did. If the word ‘gods’ can be used of mere men because of their function—if judges can be called gods—then how much more should I be called God in the full sense since I have received a unique commissioning and exercise unique power?”

In other words, Jesus was not denying that he is God in a unique sense—far from it. He was only denying that he had spoken words that were improper. The words are proper enough if spoken merely in relation to man. How much more appropriate are they then of Jesus, who is more than man? Do you see the force of the argument? To our way of thinking it may not be entirely satisfactory, but it should be understandable. We can express it by saying that, not only is there nothing in Christ’s works to merit stoning, neither is there anything in his words to merit stoning.

Finally, we come to Christ’s third argument, that to which the others lead up. It is this. Since there was nothing in Christ’s words to which these men could properly object and since they acknowledged his deeds, these deeds alone should have led them to faith in him. Jesus put it in these words, “Do not believe me unless I do what my Father does. But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (vv. 37–38). Christ’s works should lead men to faith in him. It is as simple as that.

Belief and Good Works

These claims and offers by Christ confront all of us, today.

If you are not yet a true believer in Jesus, this is His approach to your heart.

Can you accuse Jesus of sin or of an inadequate lifestyle? Hardly!

It is rather that He, j. by his life, accuses you.

Do you find his works inadequate, His words unjustified? Certainly not!

Instead, you confess with the many of Christ’s own time,

“No one ever spoke like this man.… No one ever did what this man has done.”

Well, then, let the facts drive you to not just into repentance but all the way to saving faith.

Yes. admit & throw aside your rebellion BUT then go on to trustingly commit yourself to Him & become His disciple.

Above all, believe His words and promises...

I like to distinguish among three different levels of belief.

The first level is that on which someone simply believes something. …that something is true.

It has to do with factual knowledge.

We might say that we believe THAT 2 + 2 is = to 4

Or, we believe THAT Napolean was defeated at Waterloo

Or, THAT Jesus of Nazareth, Yeshua ben Yoseph, was a real historical person.

A second level of belief is what we might mean when we say that we believe in something.

In some expressions that word “in” suggests the addition of a value system ...so that we are saying that the thing we believe in is important. In this sense we may believe in our country, in our value system, or in honourable goals.

The third level of belief is that expressed when we say that we believe on someone.

This level of belief involves trust and action. It is the kind of faith we exercise when we step onto a bridge, believing that it will hold us up, or when we get into a boat, believing that it is seaworthy and will not go down.

This is what we’re doing when we have saving faith.

This is the kind of belief Christ calls for on the basis of who he is, what he has done, and what words he has spoken.

If you will accept the facts and commit yourself to rely UPON him in this way, he promises to save you from your sin, give you peace and victory over the circumstances of life, and eventually take you to be with himself in heaven in a place that he has prepared for you.

Will you come to him?

Will you believe on him as your sufficient Saviour & as your rightful Lord?

We need to see, too, that there is an application in our reading for the person who is already a true Christian in the sense I have just outlined.

In these verses the Lord Jesus Christ lays a great deal of stress upon HIS works—not just upon His words but upon His works—and His point here is that these accomplishments should point people to him.

These works are wonderful evidence.

But if that is true for Jesus, it also is true in some limited sense for us his followers.

If you are a true Christian, you claim to have been saved by Jesus in such a way that his Spirit now lives within you and directs your life and life choices. Do you live like it?

Is there anything in your life that is evidence of His Spirit permanently living & working within you?

Jesus indicated that this should be true of you, for when some marvelled at His deeds he answered,

“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” ().

“Full Moon” Revival

We need to acknowledge that even at best there will always be a great difference between the works of Christ and our works.

But for that reason we need all the more to turn to Him and draw strength from Him.

Or, to change the metaphor, we need to turn toward Him so that we may just reflect His brilliance on to others.

He is the sun. When he was in the world he said, “I am the light of the world,” and when he was thinking of leaving this world he turned to those whom he was leaving and said, “You are the light of the world.”

But those disciples to whom He spoke ...they... were not suns; they were ...moons.

They, like ourselves, could shine only by reflecting his light.

Now is this world’s night, for the spiritual sun is not physically present anymore.

But here is the moon, the church, composed of those who know the Lord Jesus. How will we shine?

1 The various levels of belief are also discussed in vol. 2

Will we shine as a full moon or a new moon?

A waxing or a waning quarter moon?

[1] James Montgomery Boice, The Gospel of John: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2005), 790–794.

I want it to be a full moon.

I think of the early church, the church of the apostles.

The church was pretty much a new moon then.

But even so it grew and came to reflect the glory of its departed Lord to such a superlative degree that the entire world eventually sat up and took notice.

That sort of thing can happen again, if we turn our faces toward Him.

Let us confess that we have no brightness in ourselves.

Let us admit our inability to do works worthy of his presence within us.

But then, by his grace, let us also allow him to use us to reflect his glory to the world.

Let us have a full moon of revival once again...