Classic Christianity – Book of John Part 46 (07-16-19)
Synopsis
We are learning about this man named Jesus. People call in on a radio, talking about different names of God, some saying, “Praise Yeshua”. There are all kinds of names of God. Some call him Elohim. The Jehovah Witnesses call him Jehovah and the Muslims call him Allah, but if you look at their description and compare what they say to what is written and revealed by the Spirit, they are pointing to a different Jesus or someone who does not fit the description of the same God recorded in the bible. There are different names that can point to the person, Jesus, and will fit the description as revealed to us by the Spirit. The name of Yeshua points to Jesus. I do not care who you call him. It means who the name belongs to. People get all caught up in what the name is in Hebrew. We get all caught up in incidentals. But if the name you use points to someone other than who the real Jesus is, God in the flesh, who died, was buried and rose again, and instead points to someone who is not God or did not do these things we read about in the scriptures, then they have a different Jesus or someone who is not God at all. So it is with the Catholics, the Muslims and the Jehovah witnesses. To the Catholics, Jesus did not complete the work he came to do. The Muslims revere Jesus as just a holy prophet but do not believe he is God and deny the crucifixion. The Jehovah Witnesses do not believe Jesus is God but rather was a created being and do not believe in the Trinity. The Pharisees said the name of God but did not recognize Jesus as God so the name they used did not point to Jesus, and did not match who Jesus claimed to be, who the name belonged to. Many people today, like many Jews, are in unbelief, denying Jesus as God and do not believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus for them.
Transcript
John 8:45-47
45 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Is this clear? When people are fighting against truth, it is because they do not possess the author of truth. There are people today who are adamantly fighting against the message of the grace of God. Why would you be fighting against the message God came to deliver to us?
John 1:17
For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Moses came to give the law but Jesus came to give grace. Grace and truth comes from Jesus Christ our Lord. If you are rebelling against what God came to give us, it is because you are dense or you do not belong to God. The reason you do not understand grace is because you do not belong to the author of grace. If you do belong to the author of grace, then get rid of whatever is blocking you so you can understand the fullness of the grace of God that he did for you and me that we have no chance of doing for ourselves.
John 8:48
48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
That is the worst thing you can say something about, that you are a Samaritan and are demon-possessed. These are people Jesus came to his own and his own received him not. These are the ones Jesus came to save and they say he is demon possessed! They said, “You are a Samaritan. You are demon-possessed.”
John 8:49-51
49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me.
50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.
51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”
John 8:52-53
52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death.
53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
They just got through saying Abraham is our father. He died and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are, Jesus? You can just hear the venom in their speach.
John 8:54-56
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.
55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word.
56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
This wiped them out.
John 8:57-58
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
They knew exactly what Jesus was saying. He is the “I Am” who sent me. The Jews would have known about Moses conversation with God, when called to be the delivery of the Jews out of bondage in Egypt, who, when asked what he should say to Pharaoh when asked who sent him, God replied, ’I am has sent me to you.‚”
Exodus 3:13-15
13 Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ’The God of your fathers has sent me to you,‚ and they ask me, ’What is his name?‚ Then what shall I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ’I am has sent me to you.‚”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ’The Lord, the God of your fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you.‚
“This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.”
It is a recognition of deity. Jesus had seven of those “I Am” identities. Below is a list of Jesus’ seven “I Am” statements in the book of John.
- “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51) As bread sustains physical life, so Christ offers and sustains spiritual life.
- “I am the light of the world.” (John 8:12) To a world lost in darkness, Christ offers Himself as a guide.
- “I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7,9) Jesus protects His followers as shepherds protect their flocks from predators.
- “I am the resurrection and the life.” (John 11:25) Death is not the final word for those in Christ.
- “I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14) Jesus is committed to caring and watching over those who are His.
- “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) Jesus is the source of all truth and knowledge about God.
- “I am the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5) By attached ourselves to Christ, we enable His life to flow in and through us. Then we cannot help but bear fruit that will honor the Father.
The Jews knew precisely what he was saying when he said “I Am”. It is a declaration of deity. They knew he was declaring himself to be God.
Here is man declaring himself to be God. They probably thought he was a maniac. A man declaring himself to be God would be a maniac, an imposter or he would be God. As C.S. Lewis said, “he would be a man on the level of someone declaring himself to be a poached egg, or he was an imposter, who created the worst lie ever to be perpetuated on mankind, or he was who he claimed to be, which is God.” They were not going to declare himself God or how much sense would it be to take up stones to stone him to death?
John 8:59
59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
John 9:1-2
1 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
The Jews thought someone born of an infirmity, that it was from some sin of some kind, either his or that of his parents. It was not sin that caused this but his happened so the work of God will be displayed in his life.
John 9:3-5
3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
If you are in darkness, the only thing you are looking for is light. If you are in a pitched black forest, and you do not know where you are going, the one thing you are begging for is, “Lord, is there any light to get me out of here?” Jesus said you live in a world of black darkness. The only way you are to get out of this darkness is the light of Jesus Christ.
Colossians 1:13-14
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
John 9:6
6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.
One of the laws of the Jews in regard to the Sabbath is you cannot work on the Sabbath. If you are going to have a law that you cannot work on the Sabbath, then you must ask, “What is work?” So on the Sabbath, you see Jews walking to synagogues today. It would be a sin to use a man-made instrument like a car. You cannot work on the Sabbath. Yet to me, walking would be a lot more work than driving a car. Yet, they cannot use a car on the Sabbath.
Being in Israel on Shabot, or Sabbath, the Jews cannot use man-made instruments. If you are eating in a hotel, how are you going to get to a higher floor? Someone came up with the bright idea to make a Sabbat elevator. You see religious people today, orthodox Jews, who observe the Sabbath, on Saturday, and you can see them walking to church. Why? Because that would be work. Driving is considered work. I would think walking would be considered work. Don’t you? To them, driving is work, using such a man-made mechanism. Legalists come up with all these ideas of what you can and cannot do if you are going to violate, or work, on the Sabbath.
You see Jews today and you will see people standing on a Sabbat elevator. What is a Sabbat elevator? It is an elevator they designed to avoid what is considered work. You cannot push a button, for that is considered work. Yet, walking up a flight of stairs is not considered work! Which one is work to you? Climbing up stairs or pushing a button? Yet pushing a button is considered work! Somebody designed an elevator, that when standing in front of it, the doors open, and the elevator goes up automatically and stops at every floor on the way up so you do not have to push a button and be a sinner for working on the Sabbath. How you get in the room, I do not know. That is the kind of nonsensical things that religious people get engaged in. In Israel today, in August or whatever month it is, and you girls would have on a sleeveless type of dress, and you would get spit on, for that is lust. An Eskimo could cause you to lust if you want to lust. But, that is religion.
That is the kind of people Jesus entered into, literally when he was born, and when he started his ministry. When Jesus healed this man, who for over 38 years, trying to get healed, and Jesus healed him and told him to pick up his mat and walk, the religious Pharisees came to him, and said “This is the Sabbath. Who told you to heal on the Sabbath? Don’t you know the law forbids you to carry your mat on the Sabbath?”
Another one of the laws they had is that you cannot spit on the ground on the Sabbath, for spit makes mud, and that would be work. So if you spit, you have to do it on a rock. That is why this story is being told. Jesus spit on the ground and he made mud with saliva and put mud on his eyes. How many of you think putting mud on someone’s eyes will cause the blind to see?
John 9:7
7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.
That also would be considered work, to wash your eyes.
John 9:8-9
8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some claimed that he was.
Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”
But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”
John 9:10-11
10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.
11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
You can hear them saying, “He made mud. He made mud, and on the Sabbath!” and “He told me to work. He told me to work, and on the Sabbath!”
John 9:12
12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
They were not saying this so they can go and worship him. They were saying this so they can go and annihilate him. Today was the Sabbath. Can you imagine being a disciple, following Jesus around, knowing what the Jewish laws were, and seeing Jesus do this on the Sabbath? You could hear the disciples saying, “Wait for tomorrow. This guy has been blind for years. Wait for tomorrow.”. “No”, Jesus would say, “No, I have a story to tell.”
The Pharisees asked him how he received his sight.
John 9:13-15
13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind.
14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.
15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”
What kind of tender-hearted response can come from a legalist? No gratitude at all that the man born blind can now see! All they could think about was, “This man could not be God because he healed on the Sabbath”. All they could think about is that someone spit on the Sabbath, made mud on the Sabbath and someone told him to go wash. Never mind the fact that the man was healed.
John 9:16
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.
Others began to think. What an encouraging sign. They thought, “How can a sinner perform such a miraculous sign unless God were with him?” How in the world could a sinner do such a miraculous sign? Just like the country today, divided. One is looking at from one side and someone looking at it from another side. It is like two people arguing over looking at the moon, one looking at the front of the moon and the other looking at the back side of the moon.
John 9:17-18
17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.”
18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents.
We have to get some evidence here.
John 9:19-21
19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”
20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind.
21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.”
Don’t ask me. Ask him.
John 9:22
22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.
There was great fear of the Pharisees, of being kicked out of the synagoge. People today get afraid that they might get kicked out of church.
John 9:23-24
23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”
Go ask the man again. They are trying to spin this thing, saying “Yes, go ahead and give glory to God. We will go along with that, but this man is a sinner.”
John 9:25
25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
The man said, “I don’t know everything about this person who saved me. But one thing I do know is that, I was blind but now I am see. I was lost but now I am saved.”
John 9:26-27
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
You can just see the rage coming out of them.
John 9:28
28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!”
Now they have gotten off talking about Abraham and now back to talking about Moses again.
John 9:29-30
29 “We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.”
Now this is a blind guy talking to educated Pharisees.
John 9:31-34
31 “We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.
32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind.
33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.
What a reply, putting your foot down! They went after Jesus, so now they are going to go after this man, just as they did with Jesus. “How do you lecture us? I have a phD” When your content is weak, you talk sharper and louder and start relying on your degree.
That is exactly what happens today. I do not want to discredit education or those who take the time to get educated, but an education without wisdom is worthless. If you have the wisdom from God, there is only one place to go and get that wisdom, and that is from the word of God. You have a book, from the New Covenant on, and starting with the gospels on, and you devote yourself to studying what is in this book, then you will have the entire wisdom of God at your disposal. God says, “Now, I have given you a book and given you my Spirit. I have given you my Spirit so you can understand the meaning of the word of God.” Anybody can know what the word of God says. The Pharisees knew what it said, but they did not know what it meant. You have to have the Spirit of God to know what the word means.
From that point on, what kind of education you have had, regardless of how unsuccessful or successful you are, you will be the most successful person in the world because you will be steeped in the knowledge of God. If riches brought you happiness, why is there not just hilarity in Beverly Hills or Hollywood? Do you think if when you knock on every door, you would just see bubbling happiness in every home? Just because there are people in those houses, a house does not make a home. Christ makes a home. I do not care how many swimming pools you have or tennis courts or anything else, if you do not have Christ then you are a fool. Success is predicated not on how much money you make or how many homes you have but on who you belong to. If you belong to Christ Jesus, you are the most successful person. You have accomplished, or rather Jesus has accomplished for you, the ultimate of the American dream. You are indwelt by Jesus and you will live forever. You have received what nobody on the face of the earth can accomplish, for you have received eternal life as a gift. How many of you know when you will die? Not a one. You can walk out of this place today and get hit by a car and die? Are you in Christ? If you are, you are going to go into the presence of God and hear him say, “well done, good and faithful servant” and “come on into my eternal life”. How are you going to be more successful than that?
We are learning about this man named Jesus. People call in on a radio, talking about different names of God, some saying, “Praise Yeshua”. There are all kinds of names of God. Some call him Elohim. The Jehovah Witnesses call him Jehovah and the Muslims call him Allah, but if you look at their description and compare what they say to what is written and revealed by the Spirit, they are pointing to a different Jesus or someone who does not fit the description of the same God recorded in the bible. There are different names that can point to the person, Jesus, and will fit the description as revealed to us by the Spirit. The name of Yeshua points to Jesus. I do not care who you call him. It means who the name belongs to. People get all caught up in what the name is in Hebrew. We get all caught up in incidentals. But if the name you use points to someone other than who the real Jesus is, God in the flesh, who died, was buried and rose again, and instead points to someone who is not God or did not do these things we read about in the scriptures, then they have a different Jesus or someone who is not God at all. So it is with the Catholics, the Muslims and the Jehovah witnesses. To the Catholics, Jesus did not complete the work he came to do. The Muslims revere Jesus as just a holy prophet but do not believe he is God and deny the crucifixion. The Jehovah Witnesses do not believe Jesus is God but rather was a created being and do not believe in the Trinity. The Pharisees said the name of God but did not recognize Jesus as God so the name they used did not point to Jesus, and did not match who Jesus claimed to be, who the name belonged to. Many people today, like many Jews, are in unbelief, denying Jesus as God and do not believe in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus for them.
