John 7:31-51: Your Deepest Natural Desire -- Audio

What are people looking for?

What do they want?

What do people want?

Now, to answer this question, I've kind of cobbled together what people seem to value the most these days, just from looking and seeing and experiencing.

What does the world and the culture want?

What do they want?

Well, what it looks like they want is to do whatever they want all the time and have enough money to do it.

And that may sound silly as nobody does what they want all the time, but there is a culture that from what I can tell, most of what people care about is just like, yeah, I just basically want to be comfortable and be able to indulge kind of my pleasures as quickly as I can possibly do that and as often as I can possibly do that.

That seems to be what a number of people want.

have come to.

They've been swallowed by cheap entertainment and endorphin rushes, right?

It's like a society of people.

Sid, if you've ever been to the casino, and I know none of you have because theirs are so bad or whatever, you've been there.

And the slot machines and everybody's just sitting there hitting the button and the lights and the sounds and the whatever, and they're just sad faces and just like, what do you got?

What have you done for me lately?

Right?

Like they're just looking to be sort of entertained and

Because they've lost, they've been swallowed by that and have lost the things that people really ought to care about.

That sort of happened.

They either don't realize that there's real joy to be had or they've been traveling sort of on the wide road for so long as opposed to the narrow road that Jesus has laid out for us.

And they've got no compass from the world to point towards what's good and true and right and holy and excellent.

So they're just dealing with what they got.

They're a mildly content-ish folks, sort of seeking happiness with no idea where joy actually comes from.

And one of the reasons is because they do not understand their own truest and deepest desires.

You actually were created in the image and likeness of God.

You can read in Genesis 1, and the Lord tells us that very clearly.

Men, women, young people, you were made in the image and likeness of God.

He made you, and he didn't just make you, he made you to be you.

And part of you are these, there's some inborn desires, true, deep desires to be what we were made to be.

And what you were made for is actually not the brokenness of this world.

That all came because of sin.

What you were made for is peace and joy and eternal life and community with God and with one another.

No pain, no suffering, no sin.

That is not what you were made for.

That's why we're so broken by the brokenness of this world.

That's why it bothers us so much.

See, if it was normal and what you were made for, then when people died or got hurt or bad things happened or whatever, you'd just be like, well, that's what we were made for.

But something inside you is like, ugh.

Why is it that everybody all over the world, wherever you're from,

except in the most messed up places that we found occasionally, we all sort of react the same way to seeing innocent people harmed.

Why is that?

If we were made for that to be the normal way, why are we reacting to it?

You're reacting to it because you weren't made for it.

You're made for peace and joy and eternal life and community with God and each other with no pain or suffering or sin.

That's what you're made for.

You're made for perfection.

and holiness to be pure, to be set apart.

You were made not just for joyfulness.

You were made for more joyfulness than you have ever heard of, more joyfulness than you can imagine.

We ended the last study last week on the verse from the Bible.

As I said, there are Bibles in front of you.

We love you.

Please take one of those home with you if you need a Bible at home.

That's our free gift to you because people of Acts Church love you.

1 Corinthians 2, 9, it says, but as it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.

It hasn't entered into the heart of man.

We start to understand it as Christ followers because he gives us the mind of Christ, right?

And we have the Holy Spirit, but you cannot, you don't even get it.

You can't yet understand the things that God has for us.

But you understand in one sense, you long for them.

The deepest desire of your heart is for those things.

All these other things that we chase after are things that we think are going to do that for us or some version of it.

And it never works.

It's never enough.

In the book, Mere Christianity, C.S.

Lewis writes this.

I'm just going to read this passage for you.

The Christian says creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.

A baby feels hunger.

Well, there is such a thing as food.

A duckling wants to swim.

Well, there is such a thing as water.

Men feel sexual desire.

Hey, that doesn't say men and women.

I knew it.

Lewis figured it out.

He means mankind, okay?

Men feel sexual desire.

Well, there is such a thing as sex.

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud.

Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing.

If that is so, I must take care on the one hand, never to despise or be unthankful for these earthly blessings, which there are many of.

And on the other, never to mistake them, earthly blessings, for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy or echo or mirage.

I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death.

I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside.

I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.

What's Lewis saying here?

Well, he's mixing some platonic philosophy that I don't care for much with a true thing, which is you were not made for the brokenness of this world.

When God made, created the earth, made the garden, the animals, the plants, and Adam and Eve in his own image.

And he said on that sixth day, it was very good.

You cannot look at the earth today and the state of the earth and say, it is very good.

And the reason you can't is because after that, we sinned.

And the sin of Adam broke the world and continues to break us.

And so we were made for that thing that was very good, but that thing that was very good has been broken.

So God had to come and do what he does and save us himself.

And when we hear about Christ, that's the gospel, people.

When we talk about the gospel, we're talking about the answer to the brokenness of the world.

We're talking about the answer to the deepest desire in you that says, you know what?

Things shouldn't be like this.

I shouldn't suffer.

My mom, my dad, my sister, my brother, my friend, my spouse, my kids, they shouldn't suffer.

God couldn't have wanted it this way.

He didn't.

We did this.

He's done everything possible to make it so that you don't have to be like this.

Because you were made to be eternal.

And you were made to live in perfection.

So that's the deepest desire.

Something more than this.

We were made for something more.

And we cannot get so caught up in the small temporary pleasures of this world that we forget to constantly point people to heaven.

You know that Christians can get distracted?

We can get distracted.

Got to pay the rent.

So we got to work a lot, you know.

but we can also just get distracted by the millions of things that can give us small little pleasures in this very broken world, missing the fact that what we ought to be doing is thinking about the real pleasure, actual pleasure, actual joy that exists for us eternally and telling ourselves and telling other people about that and thanking God for it and knowing God more.

That's what we ought to be doing.

2 Corinthians 4, 17 through 18 says, for our light affliction, that's what we live in,

which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Well, we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

That's what Lewis is talking about.

Right now, you have a sense, you have a desire that's in you for things that you cannot see right now.

The world that we have a desire for doesn't exist right now.

We're dealing with this temporary, what the scripture calls a light affliction.

Well, it doesn't feel like a light affliction.

So the only way it can be true that it's a light affliction is if when we get perspective, when we are made new, when we are resurrected and we have perspective, all that you've experienced here will seem like a light affliction that's very temporary.

And then eternity, which is an exceeding weight of glory.

That's what you were made for.

That's what we really want.

But not all of us see it when it comes to us.

Not all of us understand it.

Even for the people that walk the same streets as Jesus while he was walking the earth doing his ministry.

The only begotten son of God.

Even what they watched him for miracles.

Even as they saw him feed 5,000 men plus women and children with five loaves and two fishes.

even when they saw him teach the scriptures with authority like no man or woman on earth has ever done before or since, even as he cried out to them to come to him for salvation, even as all of that, they were still caught up in the practical issues of life.

They were looking for a conquering king who would restore the kingdom of Israel, which is to say they were looking for somebody to fix things

the small things, give them a little bit more of the temporary pleasures.

They didn't even understand that he wasn't here for that.

That's not what he was here for.

They were looking for someone to make things better, but he came to make things perfect.

They were looking for a king to make things better for them in their daily lives, but

But what they got is the king of kings who did not come to make things better.

He came to make all things new.

And in order to do that, he had to die and rise again.

And then he's been patient and gracious enough to allow things to continue so that you and me, who he created in his image and likeness, who he had a plan for, could come to know him so that we could eventually be with him.

His death on the cross and his resurrection are here for you.

But he is coming back to make all things new.

And before he does that, he will come back in judgment.

But he's done everything to pay for you so that you don't have to experience that judgment.

So in our last study, we've been in the book of John for a while.

We've been in chapter 7 as we started last week.

We're going to try to finish this week.

But last week...

We have Jesus going to the Feast of Tabernacles, which we talked about last week.

And if this is your first week and you didn't hear last week, you know, it's online.

Go back and here's my suggestion.

Go back and watch that one.

Then watch this one again.

Then start at the beginning of John and watch all of those.

It's better than TV.

It's amazing.

It's not better than tea.

TV's pretty good.

Actually, most of it's garbage now, but Jesus goes to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles, and the people are having different reactions to him.

If you remember what we studied, first his brothers come to him, and they kind of poke at him.

Hey, why don't you go down to Jerusalem and do all your miracles down there?

If you're trying to be this public, you're the Messiah, why don't you go down there and do that?

Jerks, right?

They don't believe in him.

And then the leaders we see just being super self-righteous and jealous of him.

And then we see people kind of having all these different reactions.

Some of them are afraid of him.

Some of them are sort of hopeful, but they don't know what to think.

Some of them are amazed at the authority that he shows when he teaches.

Some are believing based on the evidence of the timing and the miracles and the reaction of leaders and all this.

All that's happening.

We're seeing all that happen as Jesus comes to Jerusalem during the Feast of Tabernacles.

Eventually, as Jesus teaches, he answers them.

the accusations sort of that are against him.

He talks about, hey, I healed on the Sabbath and you guys want to kill me for that.

And they're like, oh, who wants to kill you?

Did somebody say that?

They did want to kill him.

Okay, it was very obvious.

And he just sort of calls him to account.

And then after all that, we get to verse 31.

Well, let's start there.

731.

And it says this, and many of the people believed in him.

and said, when the Christ comes, will he do more signs than these which this man has done?

These folks believe all this evidence.

They know about the miracles.

They know about the evidence.

They hear him speaking.

They talk about the fact that he's not afraid of these people who are saying they want to kill him.

He's still speaking boldly.

And these people don't seem to be doing anything about it.

And they're like, hey, I think it's him.

I believe.

When the Christ comes, the Messiah, the anointed one, will he do more signs than these which Jesus has done?

What a good question.

What a good question.

What more do you want him to do?

What does it take for you to believe?

And this is a serious question, okay?

People say, I would believe if there was more evidence.

If there was more evidence, I'd believe.

But Jesus was actually, factually, literally doing miracles in front of these people.

Turning water into wine.

Feeding 5,000 men plus women and children.

Healing a man with an infirmity for 38 years.

Casting out demons.

Healing the lame.

Healing the blind.

Eventually he raises Lazarus from the dead.

He rises from the dead.

All of these things are happening.

and people still didn't believe him.

He was like no one to ever walk on the face of the earth, and that was obvious to everyone.

He spoke the truth.

He was afraid of no one, even though lots of people wanted to kill him.

He claimed to be God, and he was proving it, and many still did not believe.

Even his brothers didn't believe until he rose from the dead.

What do you need in order to believe?

When the Christ comes, will he do more signs than these which this man has done?

Now, I'm addressing right now those who are on the fence about Jesus right now.

If you're on the fence about Jesus right now, is it true?

Is it real?

I don't know.

But you're seeking.

You're being honest.

You're seeking.

Here online, wherever you happen to be, wherever you're hearing this, ask yourself this question.

What would it take to convince you?

What would it take to convince you?

Now, answer that in your own heart, and then ask yourself whether what you've just answered

whether that's the level of convincing that you ask for to believe anything else, or whether you're asking for a higher level of evidence than you would ask for anything.

Because my experience is that's what people do.

They make an impossible amount of evidence, and then they say that God hasn't met the standard of that evidence.

See, I believe there's a country called France with a bunch of people who like cheese and talk funny.

I believe that exists.

But I've never been there.

I've never been there.

I've seen video of it, but I've seen video of Jurassic Park.

So I don't know what's real.

Shoot her.

You've seen it, right?

You know what I'm talking about.

Looks real to me.

Scared me when I was a kid.

I believe it based on a reasonable amount of evidence that there is such a place as France.

I believe it.

These people who saw Jesus, they believed it based on the evidence they saw.

When the Christ comes, will he do more signs than these which this man has done?

They're being honest, and they're saying, what more does Jesus Christ have to do to convince us?

Shouldn't we believe at this point?

The evidence is that Jesus came and did these things and died on a cross and rose from the dead.

What more evidence do you need?

The simple fact is, and let me just be honest with you, if you're on the fence about Jesus, you haven't come to know Jesus, you have not submitted yourself to him, accepted his free gift of salvation,

And now just made your life about being his.

Being his child and loving him.

Presenting our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to him.

Which is your reasonable service.

and having our minds transformed, renewed, if that's not where you are, I will say, why not?

What do you need to be convinced?

And if the answer is, I could never be convinced, then the answer is not that you're being reasonable.

The answer is that you're unreasonable.

The answer is that you're rebellious.

All the more that you need him.

All the more that you need him.

And by the way, all of us were.

All of us were.

We were rebellious, sinful, wicked people who got saved 100% by the work of God, 0% by the work of us.

We have nothing to boast about.

The Bible's very clear.

And you can be too.

But you have to stop making impossible amounts of evidence.

These people saw Jesus and said, when the Christ comes, will he do more signs than these which this man does, which this man has done?

Now, in the next verse, it says, the Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning him.

And the Pharisees and the chief priests believed.

Nope.

And the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him.

This is the reaction of the Pharisees.

What's the reaction of normal, reasonable people?

This is the Christ.

This is the Son of God.

This is God.

What's the reaction of the Pharisees?

We should arrest this guy.

Why?

Because they were in authority and they enjoyed authority over the people.

They enjoyed it.

They did not want to hear these murmurings from the crowd saying they believed in him, saying, hey, this guy's standing up against the leaders.

Do they believe him too?

Because they seem to be afraid of him.

They didn't like all that, so they sent somebody to arrest him.

They did not want to hear that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, because that is a threat to this thing they have going.

You know what this thing that they had going us, they'd walk around in the temple, in the streets and people would come by and say, oh, rabbi, rabbi, teacher, teacher.

And they were, they, they, they were the people who felt themselves better than everybody else.

Right.

Basically, I'm talking about doctors.

You guys ever met a doctor?

No, I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

Yeah.

Lawyers.

They're the worst.

They're even worse.

That's what I get an amen for?

All this scripture and you get an amen when I talk about lawyers being the worst?

Okay, all right, I get it.

You're not wrong, but still.

These guys thought they were better than everybody else and they loved it.

And so when literally God is here, they're like, let's get rid of him.

I mean, think about how much pride can make you so stupid.

Like you can arrest God and get rid of him.

By the way, we're sitting here worshiping Jesus 2,000 years later.

There are no Pharisees anymore.

I don't know if you know that.

He won, but you knew that already.

So the evidence was sufficient to believe on the name of Jesus, as the crowd made clear.

And these guys actually were taught the scripture.

These guys probably had memorized the first five books of the Bible.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

Now, I don't know, how many of you have memorized the first five books?

I didn't think so.

Yeah, okay, this guy over here, he's done it.

How many of you are liars?

No, just kidding.

Just kidding.

Look, we haven't done it.

These guys did it.

They didn't have TV, to be fair.

But they memorized the first five books.

But they knew the scripture, and yet they did not recognize Jesus, who it's all about.

So you can know all kinds of things in your brain and have none of the spirit that helps you to see the truth.

So they taught the scripture and they still didn't accept him.

So they sent officers to take him.

They wanted to arrest him.

Then Jesus said to them, I shall be with you a little while longer.

And then I go to him who sent me.

You will seek me and not find me.

And where I am, you cannot come.

Then the Jews said among themselves, where does he intend to go that we shall not find him?

Does he intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?

So there was a diaspora.

There's a dispersion, right?

The Romans had come in, and they took over Judea, and lots of Jews had gone to lots of different places in the Greco-Roman world, Greek and Roman world.

So is he going to go like what Paul did and go on missionary trips and go tell people about him?

Is that what he's talking about?

Teaching the Greeks?

What is this thing that he said?

You will seek me and not find me.

And where I am, you cannot come.

Well, let me tell you, just in case you're wondering what he said, exactly what he meant.

I shall be with you a little while longer than I go to him who sent me.

You will seek me and not find me.

And where I am, you cannot come.

Because he was going to die and rise again and then ascend to heaven.

That's what he was going to do.

That was the plan.

They didn't understand that.

They're missing something.

What is he saying?

I'm God.

I'm God.

That's what he's saying.

I'm God.

I am God.

I am God represented, shown to you in flesh.

100% man, 100% God.

That's who I am.

I'm going to die.

I'm going to rise again.

I'm going to ascend to heaven.

And by the way, Jesus did ascend to heaven 40 days after he rose from the dead in the sight of witnesses who testified to it.

We have witness testimony of this event.

You can go to Acts chapter 1.

Acts 1 · chapter mention

Let's look at verses 9 through 11.

It says, now when he had spoken these things and while they watched, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel who also said, men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.

And he will come the same way he went.

Difference is, for those of us who are Christ followers, we're coming with him when he comes back.

He will come back to judge and to rule the world for a thousand years before it all goes away and he makes all things new.

And we'll come with him.

All of it's true.

And they watched it.

But it's interesting because as they watch it, these two men in white, angels, you know, probably what it was, they go, hey, because these guys are...

They're mouth-breathing, right?

They're staring up at heaven.

They're like, hey, you know what?

This is how I read this.

Get to work.

He's coming back.

Stop gazing at the sky.

And we have to be careful about that.

Some of us are so jacked up, excited for Jesus to come back that we can get a little sky-gazy.

Like, when's he coming back?

And let's do the numbers.

And maybe it's this day.

Easy.

He is coming back.

He is coming soon.

There's nothing wrong with studying all that.

Be careful that you don't become a sky-gazer because we got work to do.

We got work to do.

People need to get saved.

Before he comes back, one of the things that precedes it is that the last of the Gentiles comes in.

If you read Romans 11, you can read about that.

We studied that some months back.

And we want the last of the Gentiles to come in with a number.

We want the last of those who God is gonna save in this church age to be a revival.

And so we gotta get to work.

We can't just be sky gazing.

Next verse in John, verse 37.

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Jesus is very clear about who he is.

He's asking people to believe in him.

He is telling people how to get the thing they really desire.

The thing that we talked about that nothing in the world can satisfy.

See, thirst is a good metaphor for that because thirst is a need, right?

All of us have at some point been thirsty.

If it's hot outside, you've been playing ball, whatever you've been doing.

Ooh, I'm thirsty.

You drink that water.

Oh, so satisfying.

You know, other times when I drink water, not satisfying.

I think it tastes gross sometimes.

But when I'm really, it's like hot and I'm tired, water tastes pretty good.

right?

But it's a need, it's a thirst, it's a desire that can be satisfied.

What is Jesus saying?

Your desires that you have that are natural to you, I can satisfy.

What is the most natural, deepest desire?

To be with God, to love him, and to be in perfection with him and with each other.

And he's saying, I can satisfy the natural desires that are part of who you are.

You thirst, I've got rivers of water.

unstoppable, infinite.

There is need and desire.

We all experience that, and he is the ultimate satisfaction.

He is the answer and the fulfillment of all our desires, and that is what he is crying out to these people.

He's the God who created us to be with him, and he's answering the deepest question.

What are people looking for?

What do they want?

That's what you want.

You want Jesus.

You want God.

Whether you realize it or not, that is the deepest want in your heart.

It's what you were made for.

And the more you fight against it, the worse things will be.

And eventually, if you will not surrender and accept his free gift, you will never have him.

And that is a tragedy that I want everything in me wants you to avoid.

In your heart of hearts, in your spirit, in your soul, you want Jesus.

That's the truth.

Now, you may suppress that truth in unrighteousness because I want Jesus, but I also want you name it.

Money, power, sex, drugs, rock and roll.

I don't know.

Smoke, drink, spit, and chew, and go with the girls that do.

I don't know.

Whatever it is that you want.

You want stuff.

No, no, no.

That's all nonsense.

That's a distraction.

What you want in the deepest part of you is you want Jesus.

And he's offering himself to them in this moment for salvation to satisfy all of their desires eternally.

Verse 39, but this he spoke concerning the spirit whom those believing in him would receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Do you know that since Acts 2, about 50 days after the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples, about 120 of them in the upper room and they're praying and the Holy Spirit comes upon them

And for the first time in history, the Holy Spirit of God descends to be with and in every believer.

And everyone who is saved is baptized with the Holy Spirit, can be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and experience the power of the Spirit in their life.

That has been the case since then.

That will come to an end.

That will come to an end.

We are coming to a time when the church will be gone.

Some of you have heard it called the rapture or whatever.

Maybe you've watched like the Left Behind movies or whatever, which is not accurate to what's going to happen, but there's some things that are true about that.

But the thing is, is that when the church goes, the Holy Spirit who has been poured out on the world goes.

And the world no longer has the witness and the protection of the Holy Spirit.

Do you know that right now, we, the church, you as a Christ follower,

are part of the power of God that is restraining the earth from going into absolute hell.

The only reason that we are still have any semblance, any semblance of reasonableness in this world right now, the reason that we have not plunged into absolute hell is because of the restraining power of the Holy Spirit in the church.

You do not want to be here when the church goes.

That's how the Antichrist rises, because everything goes to hell, and then he promises a solution.

You don't want to take his solution.

And then Jesus comes back with us, and he rules and reigns.

But the Holy Spirit is here, in power, living water that will flow from your heart.

You can read all about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit online.

from Pentecost, as Christ gives that to his church.

He says he'll leave it.

It's in Acts chapter two, if you want to read that.

Next verse, number 40.

Therefore, many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, truly, this is the prophet.

Others said, this is the Christ.

So Moses uses the term the prophet.

Some use the term the Christ.

We're talking about the one coming, the anointed one.

Truly, so some are believing that

Some are believing.

Now listen, no reasonable person believes a man who talks like Jesus did unless that man is believable.

And if I came up to you and started talking like, hey, come to me and I'll give you living waters, you're not going to believe, you ought not to believe me because that's crazy, right?

What you ought to do is be like, hey, let's get you a nice quiet place to sit in.

going to have this man give you some nice little pills and you're going to just be okay.

But that's not how they reacted.

They believed.

Now you cannot believe.

This is one of the most, in my opinion, one of the most powerful witnesses and evidences of the reality of Jesus as God is that people heard him say he was God and believed it.

And some people go, oh, that was old times and Bronze Age, blah, blah, blah.

They didn't understand that, you know, a virgin birth.

They didn't understand that you couldn't be born of a virgin.

They thought that those things happened.

Like, no, they didn't.

They knew how babies were made long, long before this.

Like, it's such chronological snobbery, as C.S.

Lewis calls it.

These were smart people.

These were not idiots, right?

You should see the things that they understood and wrote.

This is after Plato and Aristotle and Socrates and Confucius.

People were smart.

So when somebody says, I'm God, I can give you whatever, they thought that person was crazy and treated them like a crazy person, except they didn't do that with Jesus.

They believed.

Others said, this is the Christ.

Some said, this is truly the prophet.

And then this thing happens.

And it's just such a bummer when this happens.

It says, but some said, will the Christ come out of Galilee?

Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem where David was?

So there was a division among the people because of him.

So they started doing a Bible study and they didn't know how to read the Bible correctly and they got all sideways.

Why aren't we in a room right now with all the Christians in Vancouver?

Why?

This is why.

Because somebody goes, wait a second.

We can't be with you anymore.

Right?

I can't stand it.

It makes me so sad that the church is not united.

I mean, we are.

We talk like we are.

Oh, it's just a few little things of whatever.

No, it's this.

Now, what they don't understand is he was born in Bethlehem.

It's even better than they say.

He was born in Bethlehem.

Then the scripture actually prophesies that he'll go to Egypt, which he did.

to escape from Herod, then to Galilee, then all over Jerusalem and Israel in his ministry.

All those things happened.

They didn't understand that or know that, but then they just start going to the scripture and think they know what they're talking about.

Because they were waiting for the Messiah.

So here they are, and they're having a little argument, arguing over the Bible.

And if they would have really known the Bible well, they would have recognized that Jesus was God.

Because he was born in Bethlehem, he did go to Egypt, he went to Galilee, the whole thing was there.

They will call him a Galilean.

Now, some of them wanted to take him, right?

Who's this?

Well, remember, they sent the officers to get him.

Some of them wanted to take him, but no one laid hands on him.

Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees.

So here's what happens.

They go, they send the officers, go arrest this guy.

And they go and they're like, well, we want to take him.

And they're like, well, you go first.

And the other guy's like, you go first.

Who's in charge around here?

None of them were willing to do it.

So then they come back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, why have you not brought him?

Like, how complicated is this?

If someone's talking like that, and I send just the security team from the church, like, hey, go deal with that, they're just gonna go deal with it.

But these guys didn't, they were afraid.

And it wasn't because Jesus was violent or scary in that way.

His, the way he spoke was,

was what set him apart.

The officers answered, no man ever spoke like this man.

Why didn't they touch him?

Because the power and authority of God was with him as he spoke the word.

It was God they were afraid of because he is God and because they recognized that somehow.

No man ever spoke like this man.

No man ever spoke like this man.

What is the implication?

This is not just a man.

We're afraid because this is God and man.

They were not willing to arrest Jesus because they recognized he wasn't just a man.

If they had thought he was just insane or evil or something like that, they would have grabbed him, no problem.

That was their job.

That's the kind of thing they did.

They didn't think that.

Something was very different about Jesus.

Jesus spoke with authority and these officers, we're not risking it.

Then the Pharisees answered him, are you also deceived?

Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed in him?

But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.

What a bunch of bottoms.

That's my mom.

I'm not allowed to say butts, but that's what I mean.

Butts.

They're a bunch of butts.

These guys are a bunch of butts.

Oh, have any of us believed in him?

Like, oh, if you don't give us a seal of approval, we can't see what's in front of our eyes?

That's how they were.

We're in charge.

Well, we're not believing, which wasn't even true, by the way.

Secretly, there were some that believed.

But they're saying, we don't believe, so you shouldn't believe.

Of course, then you go get them, which they didn't.

Which they didn't.

Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed?

But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.

Like, oh.

They're dogging their own people, cursing their own people because their people recognize something that, by the way, they also recognize.

If you're wondering how I know they recognize, go back to John 3 and the conversation that Nicodemus has with Jesus at night.

And he says, we know you're from God.

We, he's part of the Sanhedrin, he's part of this group.

We, they all know you're from God because no one can do the things you do unless he's from God.

So they actually did know.

That's how evil they were.

They're so high on themselves.

Why don't you believe?

Isn't our opinion enough?

And the answer was no.

Like I said, the Pharisees are long gone and Jesus reigns.

Verse 15, Nicodemus, he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them, fell I just talked about, said to them, does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?

Basically saying, hey, what you're doing is illegal, which it was.

try to go arrest him and whatever.

He hasn't had a trial.

You haven't heard from him.

You haven't let him defend himself.

You're just trying to get him out of the way.

Nicodemus does believe that Jesus is from God, as I told you.

And he shows some courage here.

Not enough courage to say, I follow him, which would have been more courage, but some courage.

They answered and said to him, are you also from Galilee?

Search and look for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.

Again, they just try to find reasons to reject God.

And object to the truth that's standing in front of them because he threatens their piddly little worldly kingdom where they're the main characters in their mind.

What about you?

You believe you were reverent, like his brothers or whatever.

I saw a Tik TOK that said that the Bible is not really true.

Okay.

Are you like these leaders, jealous of him, self-righteous, you want to be your own God?

Are you like the people, kind of afraid to go after him because you might have to endure some difficulties if you do?

Are you hopeful, like you want it to be true, but you're not sure?

Or are you amazed by his authority and the evidence, the timing, the miracles, the reaction of leaders, the resurrection from the dead?

and submitting your life to him.

You've got to decide.

But the question that people answered is a question you have to answer.

When the Christ comes, will he do more signs of these which this man has done?

No.

We see Jesus telling the story of the rich man and Lazarus.

Lazarus, the beggar.

They both die.

Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom.

The rich man's in hell.

There's a great chasm between them, but they can talk to each other.

The rich man says, hey, send Lazarus to put his finger in some water and cool my tongue because I'm in torment.

He goes, we can't come to you.

You can't come to us.

This is what's happened to you.

And the guy says, well, send him then to my brothers.

Send Lazarus to my brothers.

Have him come back to life, essentially go to my brothers.

And tell them, because if someone rises from the dead, they'll believe.

And Moses says, or Abraham says, look, they have the Bible.

They have Moses, the prophets, they got all that.

If they won't believe that, they will not believe even if someone rises from the dead.

And he was right about the rich man's brothers, and he's right about us.

If you will not believe this, the word of God, the most powerful, amazing, deep message

This is clearly written by God.

No person can do what this does.

There's no, that over hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years, all of it's connected.

All the prophecies come true.

Everything in this is connected from one end to the other in ways that humans could never have devised.

But if you won't believe this, it doesn't matter if he rises from the dead in front of you, you're not gonna believe him because you reject him.

It's not your reason.

It's not because you're so smart.

The smartest people that have ever lived, many of them are Christ followers.

Some of the most brilliant scientific minds that exist today are Christ followers.

Don't give me that you're so smart.

You're a rebel, and Jesus is calling you to repentance because he loves you.

If you have children, you've got a kid who's just, man, they're out of control.

But you love them, and you want them to come back.

That's how he is with you.

He loves you.

This book was written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

It was God-breathed, and it was written for a purpose.

And the book of John tells us what its purpose was and is.

In chapter 20, Lord willing, we'll get there someday.

We're not there yet.

It says, and truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples.

This is verses 30 and 31, which are not written in this book.

But these are written, the things that are in the book of John are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

Why are we studying this?

Why was this written?

Why did the Holy Spirit inspire John to write it?

That you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.

That's what it's about.

It's why this is here.

It's to persuade you of the truth.

And this is what every Christ follower wants for you.

If you're listening to this and you think, the church wants my money, or they just want me to come sit in their pews.

We don't have pews here, but they want whatever.

They want me to volunteer.

They want me to do whatever.

They just want, they want to take from me.

Listen, stop.

That is absolutely 100% unequivocally before God.

Not now.

The primary thing that we want for you, the primary thing that we want for you is for you to have a life in his name.

You can go to some other church and give and serve and whatever.

I don't care.

I just care that you become a follower of Christ and experience what I've experienced.

It's not about us.

It's about God.

It's about his only begotten son, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

I cannot tell you all that he's done for me because it's more than I can express in words.

It's all true.

All of it.

He is God and he is real and he is alive and he died for you and your sinfulness and he rose again and so will you.

Listen, John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him, whoever believes in him, doesn't matter what you've done, where you've come from, how rebellious you've been, whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Just believe in him and you should not perish but have everlasting life.

Romans 9, I'm sorry, Romans 10, 9 through 10 says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

That's it.

For with the heart, I'm sorry, that you will be saved.

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confessions made unto salvation.

It's that simple.

You're not doing anything.

Confess.

That he's Lord.

Believe that God raised him from the dead.

And you're saved.

You are eternally saved.

Cannot be taken away.

No matter what happens.

Because it's not about you.

It's not about what you've done.

It's about what he's done.

And he will hold on to you.

And you'll be his child because he's paid for you.

But you have to receive it.

And to receive it, you have to believe.

That's why the book of John was written.

That you might believe.

And believing that you might have life in his name.

And he will work in you to change you and transform you.

I love him.

He has done so much for me.

And I would not trade my life in Jesus Christ for anything.

Not for money, not for fame, not for power, not for nothing.

You cannot know what it's like.

You cannot know what it's like until you know what it's like to be his.

I beseech you by God's mercy and grace, be saved.

Be saved from this perverse generation.

And then when you're saved, tell everyone what the Lord has done for you.

Because that deepest desire in your heart is for Jesus.

That's what it is.

You may not have been able to understand it yet, but please understand it.

For those of you who are in Christ, let's be telling people about him.

Because it's amazing.

Let's pray.