FURTHER CONFLICT OVER JESUS' CLAIMS (2)

HOOK

Yesterday right here at “The Message”, we looked into the escalating conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees

From the first part of the pericope— or the narrative of what happened., we learned a couple of things:

I AM CHOSEN TO BECOME LIKE JESUS [not to be God]

MY ETERNAL LIFE IS SECURED IN JESUS

These are two very important doctrines of our faith in Christ— that we are chosen, elected, predestined and that our eternal life is secured in the Lord [Assurance of Salvation]

Let’s see how this spectacle ended up— open your Bible to JOHN 10:32-42, once you got there, you know what to do, type Amen!

CHARACTER, COMMAND, PROMISES, CONVICTIONS, EXAMPLES, CHALLENGES AND ENCOURAGEMENT

Read JOHN 10:32-42

John 10:32–42 NIV

32 but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” 33 “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.” 34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—36 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’? 37 Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. 38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” 39 Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp. 40 Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing in the early days. There he stayed, 41 and many people came to him. They said, “Though John never performed a sign, all that John said about this man was true.” 42 And in that place many believed in Jesus.

LOOK

FOR BLASPHEMY , BECAUSE YOU, A MERE MAN CLAIM TO BE GOD

Blasphemy [slander]—contemptuous speech, writings or actions towards God

Jesus replied to them using their own law— listen

SCRIPTURE CANNOT BE SET ASIDE

A very important lesson may be learned here, but if you are not careful, you can easily miss it

Jesus said, “scripture cannot be set aside— If you believe that the Bible is truly the infallible and inerrant Word of God, you must believe everything it says from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation Revelation 22:21 [31,102 verses— 23,145 in the OT and 7,957 in the NT]

Jesus quoted the scripture to back up His claims that He is indeed the son of God— [PSALM 82:6]

The same scripture that spoke about Him being the Son of God, there are tons of words that points to Jesus, here’s one— [ISAIAH 7:14]

BELIEVE THE WORKS THAT YOU MAY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND

Since the pharisees said that they are not stoning him because of any good work he has done, Jesus pointed them to the works [signs and miracles] He performed to believe that the Father is in him and him in the Father

We talked about some of these works in the recent past— turned water into wine, healed the son of a royal official, healed the man by the pool lame for 38 years, fed the 5,000, He walked on the water and the healing of the man that was born blind

IN THAT PLACE MANY BELIEVED JESUS

In contrast to the disbelief of the pharisees and some Jewish people, many believed Jesus through the witness of John the Baptist

Though John himself never performed a sign, they saw that everything he said about Jesus was true

People believed Jesus through our witness

From these, we can learn a couple of examples— the bad example that we shall avoid is when the Pharisees just picked and chose the words from the scriptures that led them to their disbelief on Jesus being the One sent by the Father

And two, the good example that John displayed for us to emulate— His witnessing for Jesus led a lot of people to believe

TOOK

I MUST NOT PICK AND CHOOSE ONLY THE WORDS I LIKE FROM THE SCRIPTURES

I SHALL WITNESS ABOUT THE WORKS THAT JESUS DID IN MY LIFE