1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:05,380 On these Sunday mornings we’ve been discovering that a Christian is a person whose life is 2 00:00:05,380 –> 00:00:07,980 shaped by certain convictions. 3 00:00:07,980 –> 00:00:12,040 First, we saw the mercy of God. 4 00:00:12,040 –> 00:00:17,240 When you know that God is merciful, you will have joy in worship, and it will cause you 5 00:00:17,240 –> 00:00:20,360 to increasingly become a blessing to other people. 6 00:00:20,360 –> 00:00:24,959 We saw that a Christian is deeply convinced that he or she will one day stand before the 7 00:00:25,840 –> 00:00:31,440 Christ and that on that day hidden service will be rewarded, hidden secrets will be revealed. 8 00:00:31,440 –> 00:00:36,439 And when you know that you will walk in the light and you will invest your life in that 9 00:00:36,439 –> 00:00:39,820 which Jesus said will be rewarded. 10 00:00:39,820 –> 00:00:44,740 And last week we saw that God has a wonderful gift to give to every person. 11 00:00:44,740 –> 00:00:46,439 He offers it to you. 12 00:00:46,439 –> 00:00:51,299 The gift of God is not that you should have a spiritual dimension to your life but that 13 00:00:51,360 –> 00:00:56,939 you should know God Himself present with you and in you by the Holy Spirit, leading you 14 00:00:56,939 –> 00:00:59,980 into everlasting life. 15 00:00:59,980 –> 00:01:05,900 If you knew these things Jesus was saying in the gospels, you’d be an entirely different 16 00:01:05,900 –> 00:01:07,040 person. 17 00:01:07,040 –> 00:01:10,599 Now this morning as we come to the last in our short series, we’re going to come to the 18 00:01:10,599 –> 00:01:19,279 greatest discovery that a human being can ever make, and that is to know God Himself. 19 00:01:19,279 –> 00:01:26,220 And I want as we come to John 8 this morning to ask this question straight on, how can 20 00:01:26,220 –> 00:01:31,680 I come to know God as my Father? 21 00:01:31,680 –> 00:01:35,720 And I want to focus especially on the words of Jesus in verse 19. 22 00:01:35,720 –> 00:01:43,860 If you look there at John 8 and verse 19 Jesus said, You do not know me or my Father. 23 00:01:43,980 –> 00:01:52,279 But if you knew me you would know my Father as well. 24 00:01:52,279 –> 00:01:59,879 I want you to take a moment to think of three words that would most appropriately describe 25 00:01:59,879 –> 00:02:01,239 your Father. 26 00:02:01,239 –> 00:02:02,440 You can write them down if you want. 27 00:02:02,440 –> 00:02:05,580 I’m going to take just a moment to think about this. 28 00:02:05,580 –> 00:02:12,539 Three words that would most appropriately describe your Father. 29 00:02:13,160 –> 00:02:16,199 Now, let’s have one or two suggestions just called out very quickly here. 30 00:02:16,199 –> 00:02:18,300 One or two – just a word that comes to mind. 31 00:02:18,300 –> 00:02:21,100 Strong, thank you. 32 00:02:21,100 –> 00:02:23,419 Generous, thank you. 33 00:02:23,419 –> 00:02:26,000 Loving, caring. 34 00:02:26,000 –> 00:02:28,259 Patient, thank you. 35 00:02:28,259 –> 00:02:33,360 I had the opportunity to do this exercise earlier and here were my three. 36 00:02:33,360 –> 00:02:37,339 I came up with loyal, loving, and courageous. 37 00:02:38,059 –> 00:02:43,800 We’ll come up with very, very different words to describe our experience of a father. 38 00:02:43,800 –> 00:02:46,160 Now, here’s the interesting thing. 39 00:02:46,160 –> 00:02:55,679 I associate the word father, from my experience, with loyal, loving, and courageous. 40 00:02:55,679 –> 00:03:05,380 So, when I read in the Bible that God is Father, it’s natural for me to project my experience 41 00:03:05,380 –> 00:03:08,339 of my own father onto God. 42 00:03:08,339 –> 00:03:16,860 And to say, my father is loyal, loving, and courageous, God is Father, therefore God must 43 00:03:16,860 –> 00:03:21,500 be loyal, loving and courageous. 44 00:03:21,500 –> 00:03:28,460 And whichever three words you thought of to describe your earthly father are probably 45 00:03:28,460 –> 00:03:34,720 the instinctive first feelings that you have about God. 46 00:03:34,759 –> 00:03:39,639 They’re probably the initial perception that you project onto him. 47 00:03:39,639 –> 00:03:55,679 Now here’s the problem, what if one of your words was aloof, cold, weak, arrogant, unreliable. 48 00:03:55,699 –> 00:04:06,100 What if one of your words was self-obsessed, workaholic, drunk, or even abuser? 49 00:04:06,100 –> 00:04:10,440 See, on a number of occasions I’ve had the privilege of speaking with someone who said 50 00:04:10,440 –> 00:04:16,519 to me very honestly, Pastor, I have great difficulty in relating to what the Bible says 51 00:04:16,519 –> 00:04:18,720 about God the Father. 52 00:04:18,720 –> 00:04:23,119 And they’ve gone on to explain that the reason that they have difficulty is because their 53 00:04:23,119 –> 00:04:29,700 experience of their own earthly Father has been so difficult and sometimes so painful 54 00:04:29,700 –> 00:04:37,040 that they project this onto their view of God, and the whole thing becomes exceedingly 55 00:04:37,040 –> 00:04:38,179 distorted. 56 00:04:38,179 –> 00:04:46,459 Now, if it were the case that God were simply a giant projection of our human experience 57 00:04:46,459 –> 00:04:53,339 of Fatherhood, then some of us would be happy, some of us would be horrified, but none of 58 00:04:53,339 –> 00:05:00,600 us could worship, because a God who is merely a projection of another human being, who we 59 00:05:00,600 –> 00:05:06,299 have experienced as a father, may be worthy of love and respect and honour, but certainly 60 00:05:06,299 –> 00:05:08,880 not of worship. 61 00:05:08,880 –> 00:05:16,040 If you start from your own experience of Fatherhood, you will at best have a totally inadequate 62 00:05:16,059 –> 00:05:24,440 understanding of God, and at worst, a totally distorted view of God, for projections always 63 00:05:24,440 –> 00:05:28,600 lead to distortions. 64 00:05:28,600 –> 00:05:33,160 And that is why it is a wonderful thing when Jesus begins speaking about how you know God 65 00:05:33,160 –> 00:05:39,859 the Father, but the first thing he says, is, you do not know the Father. 66 00:05:39,859 –> 00:05:42,899 And for some of us, that may be a huge relief. 67 00:05:42,899 –> 00:05:50,640 If your experiences of early life were extremely difficult, it may be a great relief to you 68 00:05:50,640 –> 00:05:52,700 to know that God is not that. 69 00:05:52,700 –> 00:05:59,579 You do not know God by a projection of your own early experience. 70 00:05:59,579 –> 00:06:02,500 Very important to grasp that. 71 00:06:02,500 –> 00:06:07,859 Projections always lead to distortions. 72 00:06:07,859 –> 00:06:11,739 Basically it is six years since we came from Enfield to Arlington. 73 00:06:11,739 –> 00:06:17,299 I was telling the staff this week when we were reminiscing about when we left London 74 00:06:17,299 –> 00:06:24,459 and the youth group put on some sketches, one of which included an impersonation of 75 00:06:24,459 –> 00:06:31,500 what they thought I would look like and sound like in five years time. 76 00:06:31,500 –> 00:06:38,799 One of the youngsters came on, dressed in a pure white suit, carrying a can of Coca-Cola, 77 00:06:38,799 –> 00:06:44,440 wearing a baseball cap on backwards and a huge Bible in the other arm, and then began 78 00:06:44,440 –> 00:06:52,059 preaching loudly and impassionately with an extraordinary sounding drawl that even now 79 00:06:52,059 –> 00:06:54,640 I could not begin to impersonate. 80 00:06:54,640 –> 00:07:00,220 Well, you see what he had done was he had taken the word American and preacher and he 81 00:07:00,299 –> 00:07:04,459 he had projected all his distortions, and he projected them onto me. 82 00:07:04,459 –> 00:07:09,359 And I saw him, I saw him a couple of months ago, and I reminded him, I said, you know 83 00:07:09,359 –> 00:07:13,000 it’s now six years since that sketch you did? 84 00:07:13,000 –> 00:07:14,920 And he said to me yes. 85 00:07:14,920 –> 00:07:22,320 And he looked at me and he said, I’m very disappointed. 86 00:07:22,320 –> 00:07:24,920 Projections always lead to distortions. 87 00:07:25,260 –> 00:07:30,739 I tell you, my wife’s first boyfriend loved rollercoasters. 88 00:07:30,739 –> 00:07:38,820 We’re really scraping the barrel for illustrations today, but this is, this is where we have 89 00:07:38,820 –> 00:07:39,820 come to. 90 00:07:39,820 –> 00:07:46,679 He loved rollercoasters and of course he assumed that because he loved rollercoasters 91 00:07:46,679 –> 00:07:49,600 that she would love rollercoasters also. 92 00:07:49,600 –> 00:07:53,320 If only she could be persuaded to go on one, she’d never being on one, she absolutely 93 00:07:54,320 –> 00:07:55,559 the thought. 94 00:07:55,559 –> 00:08:00,959 Well, he went on and on and on and eventually persuaded her to try just one ride. 95 00:08:00,959 –> 00:08:02,679 It was a huge mistake. 96 00:08:02,679 –> 00:08:07,880 She didn’t realise until she got on the ride which one he’d chosen for her. 97 00:08:07,880 –> 00:08:15,000 It was the Big Dipper which just about describes what it was like and having gone on that ride, 98 00:08:15,000 –> 00:08:22,200 that was goodnight and goodbye for him, thankfully, I may add. 99 00:08:22,899 –> 00:08:35,520 If he knew her, he would have known that that was a huge mistake, but he projected his own 100 00:08:35,520 –> 00:08:41,520 experience with the assumption that because he liked roller coasters, she would obviously 101 00:08:41,520 –> 00:08:44,719 feel the same, if only she could be persuaded to try. 102 00:08:44,719 –> 00:08:53,239 Now, if we take our own experiences, and our own prejudices, and our own mixed experience 103 00:08:53,239 –> 00:09:01,859 of relationships, and project them all onto God, then we make a huge mistake. 104 00:09:01,859 –> 00:09:08,840 You cannot know God from your own experiences. 105 00:09:08,840 –> 00:09:14,979 Projecting the character of a good father onto God may be a pleasant dream, projecting 106 00:09:14,979 –> 00:09:20,960 the character of a bad father onto God may be a horrendous nightmare, but either way 107 00:09:20,960 –> 00:09:22,640 it is just an illusion. 108 00:09:22,640 –> 00:09:27,320 God is not a big screen projection of your experience. 109 00:09:27,320 –> 00:09:32,080 God is not a giant version of your Dad. 110 00:09:32,080 –> 00:09:35,840 We do not know God intuitively. 111 00:09:35,880 –> 00:09:38,940 Exodus makes this point very clear in John 8, verse 19. 112 00:09:38,940 –> 00:09:43,900 You do not know my Father. 113 00:09:43,900 –> 00:09:50,159 Now, if you are to come to know God authentically, here is where you must begin. 114 00:09:50,159 –> 00:09:54,880 By acknowledging the fact that you do not know Him. 115 00:09:54,880 –> 00:10:02,059 Whoever God is, I can’t know Him from experience, I can’t know Him from intuition. 116 00:10:02,179 –> 00:10:08,340 He is invisible and, ultimately, unknowable, and the only way in which I ever could come 117 00:10:08,340 –> 00:10:16,780 to know Him would be if He removed the veil and made Himself known. 118 00:10:16,780 –> 00:10:18,419 You cannot know God from experience. 119 00:10:18,419 –> 00:10:20,059 That’s the first thing to grasp. 120 00:10:20,059 –> 00:10:25,059 Second, you cannot know God from religion. 121 00:10:25,559 –> 00:10:29,900 Look again at verse 19 of John in chapter 8. 122 00:10:29,900 –> 00:10:35,039 It really is worth getting these simple words of Jesus worked into your mind and heart. 123 00:10:35,039 –> 00:10:36,039 They’re so powerful. 124 00:10:36,039 –> 00:10:40,520 You do not know me or my Father. 125 00:10:40,520 –> 00:10:45,140 If you knew me, you would know my Father also. 126 00:10:45,140 –> 00:10:50,840 Now, remember that Jesus is talking here to the Pharisees. 127 00:10:50,840 –> 00:10:54,440 These were religious leaders of their day. 128 00:10:54,440 –> 00:10:58,840 They had given their lives to studying the Torah. 129 00:10:58,840 –> 00:11:01,780 They had practiced spiritual disciplines. 130 00:11:01,780 –> 00:11:09,099 They gave themselves to prayer day after day after day, and Jesus says to them, you, you, 131 00:11:09,099 –> 00:11:14,479 the spiritual leaders of the day, do not know God. 132 00:11:14,479 –> 00:11:23,659 Now, this is one of the most radical, disturbing, shocking, and divisive statements Jesus ever 133 00:11:24,020 –> 00:11:24,520 made. 134 00:11:24,520 –> 00:11:30,359 And, quite frankly, if you want a peaceful life in this world, don’t follow a man who 135 00:11:30,359 –> 00:11:33,479 says things like this. 136 00:11:33,479 –> 00:11:38,479 If you’re to get the full force of Jesus’ words here, you need to try and picture Jesus 137 00:11:38,479 –> 00:11:45,419 sitting around a table with a number of other religious leaders in a televised discussion 138 00:11:45,419 –> 00:11:47,419 about religion. 139 00:11:47,419 –> 00:11:49,260 Try and picture them. 140 00:11:50,099 –> 00:11:59,460 There is a Muslim Imam, there is a Hindu guru in saffron robes, and a trendy lady who leads 141 00:11:59,460 –> 00:12:02,940 New Age seminars, and Jesus, and a facilitator with them. 142 00:12:02,940 –> 00:12:07,619 And the question they’re discussing in this televised debate, in the roundtable, is what 143 00:12:07,619 –> 00:12:09,340 is God like? 144 00:12:09,340 –> 00:12:12,739 And they begin the discussion. 145 00:12:12,739 –> 00:12:15,700 The first one says, well, you know, when I think about God, the first thing that comes 146 00:12:15,700 –> 00:12:18,080 to mind is that He’s the great lawgiver. 147 00:12:19,080 –> 00:12:23,919 Yes, says another, but we can’t limit Him to the law because God is love, pure love, 148 00:12:23,919 –> 00:12:26,440 and wherever there is love, there is God. 149 00:12:26,440 –> 00:12:31,159 Yes, says a third, and the important thing is that there is something of God in all of 150 00:12:31,159 –> 00:12:32,159 us. 151 00:12:32,159 –> 00:12:37,460 Yes, I think there’s a real consensus here, says the facilitator. 152 00:12:37,460 –> 00:12:40,340 Do you have anything to add, Jesus? 153 00:12:40,340 –> 00:12:47,739 And Jesus says, well, I hear what you’re saying about God. 154 00:12:47,739 –> 00:12:51,659 But the problem is that none of you know Him. 155 00:12:51,659 –> 00:13:00,900 If you knew me, you would know Him, but you don’t know me and so you do not know who 156 00:13:00,900 –> 00:13:03,119 my Father is. 157 00:13:03,119 –> 00:13:09,359 Now, when you understand that that is precisely what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying here, 158 00:13:09,359 –> 00:13:12,580 it is not surprising the way in which people responded. 159 00:13:12,580 –> 00:13:17,239 If He said that in the televised debate, what would the facilitator say? 160 00:13:17,239 –> 00:13:22,359 Who do you think you are? 161 00:13:22,359 –> 00:13:27,760 You think you’re the only one who knows God here? 162 00:13:27,760 –> 00:13:31,840 If you look at verse 53, you will find that is precisely what the Pharisee said. 163 00:13:31,840 –> 00:13:33,880 Who do you think you are? 164 00:13:33,880 –> 00:13:39,400 You think you’re the only one who knows God? 165 00:13:40,400 –> 00:13:47,780 See, there are obviously millions of people in this world today who do not know Jesus, 166 00:13:47,780 –> 00:13:52,960 and the religious consensus in the world today is to say, well they may not know Jesus but 167 00:13:52,960 –> 00:13:57,239 therefore they must know God in another way. 168 00:13:57,239 –> 00:14:02,760 And we would all be more comfortable if Jesus had said, you do not know me, but of course 169 00:14:02,760 –> 00:14:06,940 you do know God – it’s just you know him by another root. 170 00:14:06,940 –> 00:14:10,599 But Jesus never said that. 171 00:14:10,599 –> 00:14:19,739 He said, you do not know the Father, and the reason you do not know the Father is that 172 00:14:19,739 –> 00:14:21,900 you do not know me. 173 00:14:21,900 –> 00:14:30,719 Now, I have to say that that is so offensive that you should not be the least bit surprised 174 00:14:30,719 –> 00:14:34,479 when you look at the end of John and chapter 8, if you look at verse 59 there, you see 175 00:14:34,479 –> 00:14:36,400 how they responded to what he said? 176 00:14:36,400 –> 00:14:42,400 They picked up stones to stone him. 177 00:14:42,400 –> 00:14:43,400 That was the reaction. 178 00:14:43,400 –> 00:14:48,760 Now, I have to say, whenever anyone understands what Jesus is saying in John chapter 8 and 179 00:14:48,760 –> 00:14:55,960 verse 19 today, it is the same reaction, perhaps just by a different means. 180 00:14:55,960 –> 00:15:00,239 We must get rid of the idea, you know, that they crucified Jesus two thousand years ago, 181 00:15:00,239 –> 00:15:02,919 but we would never do such an uncivilized thing today. 182 00:15:03,039 –> 00:15:05,719 Oh yes, we would. 183 00:15:05,719 –> 00:15:11,299 Because his claim is every bit as offensive in our society today as it was in Jerusalem 184 00:15:11,299 –> 00:15:13,640 in the first century. 185 00:15:13,640 –> 00:15:20,340 We would not crucify him with wood and with nails, but boy, we would crucify him on the 186 00:15:20,340 –> 00:15:21,359 talk shows. 187 00:15:21,359 –> 00:15:29,159 We would ridicule him as out of line and out of sight and making the most ludicrously unacceptable 188 00:15:29,159 –> 00:15:32,780 claims in such a civilized society as ours. 189 00:15:33,119 –> 00:15:36,260 Who do you think you are? 190 00:15:36,260 –> 00:15:37,479 That’s what we’d say. 191 00:15:39,619 –> 00:15:42,979 You hear what Jesus is saying, then? 192 00:15:42,979 –> 00:15:53,979 You cannot know God by projecting out your own experience, and you cannot know God by 193 00:15:53,979 –> 00:15:57,900 the pursuit of religion. 194 00:15:57,979 –> 00:16:03,940 You see, some people have the idea, if I come to church, if I say prayers, I read the Bible, 195 00:16:03,940 –> 00:16:06,520 this will give me a relationship with God. 196 00:16:06,520 –> 00:16:08,119 Jesus says no. 197 00:16:10,460 –> 00:16:16,619 And to the most religious people of his day, he says, you don’t know God, and the reason 198 00:16:16,619 –> 00:16:21,460 is, you don’t know me. 199 00:16:22,859 –> 00:16:26,520 Now, let’s look at this positively, then, as we turn it around and listen to these words 200 00:16:26,640 –> 00:16:31,820 of Jesus that are wholly extraordinary, for there is no doubt about the answer that Jesus 201 00:16:31,820 –> 00:16:35,840 gives to the question, how do I know God the father? 202 00:16:35,840 –> 00:16:36,840 Verse 19. 203 00:16:36,840 –> 00:16:38,760 Look at His positive statement now. 204 00:16:38,760 –> 00:16:48,880 If you knew me, if you knew me, then, you would know my father also. 205 00:16:48,880 –> 00:16:54,340 This is the very heart of the teaching of Jesus, that the way in which you can come 206 00:16:54,340 –> 00:17:01,500 to know God the Father personally, the way in which you can come to know the God who 207 00:17:01,500 –> 00:17:08,099 is invisible and otherwise unknowable, is through the One who has made Him known. 208 00:17:08,099 –> 00:17:10,760 That is His Son, Jesus Christ. 209 00:17:10,760 –> 00:17:14,739 If you want to know God, you have to approach Him indirectly. 210 00:17:14,739 –> 00:17:20,219 You cannot come straight to the Father, you have to come to His Son, Jesus Christ. 211 00:17:20,219 –> 00:17:28,380 And when you know Him, in knowing Him, you will know the Father. 212 00:17:28,380 –> 00:17:32,160 This is fundamental to Christian conviction. 213 00:17:32,160 –> 00:17:37,719 A Christian is a person whose life is shaped by the utter conviction that what Jesus says 214 00:17:37,719 –> 00:17:41,719 right here is true. 215 00:17:41,719 –> 00:17:47,839 Now it’s obviously the case that in some sense the Pharisees did know Jesus. 216 00:17:48,000 –> 00:17:54,020 In fact, the Pharisees knew some things about Jesus that you and I do not know about Him. 217 00:17:54,020 –> 00:17:59,619 For example, the Pharisees could have told you the color of Jesus’ eyes. 218 00:17:59,619 –> 00:18:02,239 And none of us knows that. 219 00:18:02,239 –> 00:18:06,260 The Pharisees could have told you how tall Jesus was. 220 00:18:06,260 –> 00:18:09,459 They could have estimated His weight. 221 00:18:09,459 –> 00:18:10,979 They knew He was from Nazareth. 222 00:18:10,979 –> 00:18:14,040 They knew that He was born in Bethlehem. 223 00:18:14,040 –> 00:18:16,859 They had seen some of His miracles. 224 00:18:16,859 –> 00:18:22,439 They had heard some of His teaching direct from His own mouth. 225 00:18:22,439 –> 00:18:28,180 As their plot against Him gained momentum, they had gained intelligence, inside information 226 00:18:28,180 –> 00:18:32,599 about Him from Judas, who betrayed his movements to them. 227 00:18:32,599 –> 00:18:36,380 They knew a great deal about Jesus. 228 00:18:36,380 –> 00:18:44,300 But notice that Jesus says, very clearly here, you do not know Me. 229 00:18:44,300 –> 00:18:47,199 So what else is there to know? 230 00:18:47,199 –> 00:18:53,939 What is it that we need to grasp about Jesus in order to know Him, so that in knowing Him 231 00:18:53,939 –> 00:18:57,540 we may come to know the Father. 232 00:18:57,540 –> 00:19:04,219 Now, right within this very passage of Jesus’ teaching, He gives three very clear answers 233 00:19:04,219 –> 00:19:06,859 to that question. 234 00:19:06,859 –> 00:19:09,300 Look first at verse 14. 235 00:19:09,300 –> 00:19:16,420 Matter 1, if you’re to know Jesus you need to know that he came from heaven. 236 00:19:16,420 –> 00:19:25,800 Verse 14, I know where I came from, I know where I’m going, but you have no idea where 237 00:19:25,800 –> 00:19:29,900 I came from or where I’m going. 238 00:19:29,900 –> 00:19:33,280 Therefore, he goes on later to say you don’t know me. 239 00:19:33,359 –> 00:19:40,819 It’s very clear if you’re to know Jesus, you need to know that he came from heaven. 240 00:19:40,819 –> 00:19:47,479 Now, you came from the union of your father and your mother. 241 00:19:47,479 –> 00:19:53,760 This is the means that God uses to bring us into existence, and this gives rise to some 242 00:19:53,760 –> 00:19:58,300 extraordinary thoughts that may cross your mind from time to time if your father had 243 00:19:58,300 –> 00:20:05,040 met some other lady, or your mother had met some other man, you would have been some other 244 00:20:05,040 –> 00:20:06,040 kid. 245 00:20:06,040 –> 00:20:10,420 In fact, you would not have existed. 246 00:20:10,420 –> 00:20:16,660 You would not have been you, because you came to be because of the union of your father 247 00:20:16,660 –> 00:20:17,660 and your mother. 248 00:20:17,660 –> 00:20:24,760 So, I say to my boys, be very thankful for roller coasters. 249 00:20:25,660 –> 00:20:33,020 You know, whatever your background, and whatever your early experience is, here is a remarkable 250 00:20:33,020 –> 00:20:40,060 thing, God wanted you, and not some other kid, to come into existence. 251 00:20:40,060 –> 00:20:49,959 And so He gave you life through the union of your father and your mother. 252 00:20:49,959 –> 00:20:54,079 But with Jesus, it was completely different. 253 00:20:54,079 –> 00:21:03,800 Look at verse 23, how he puts it, you, he says, are from below, I am from above, you 254 00:21:03,800 –> 00:21:10,439 are from this world, I am not of this world. 255 00:21:10,439 –> 00:21:17,439 I sometimes enjoy watching Larry King on CNN, and on one occasion, Larry King was himself 256 00:21:17,439 –> 00:21:23,839 being interviewed by someone else, who asked him, who he, Larry, would most like to interview 257 00:21:23,839 –> 00:21:28,479 if he could speak to anyone who had ever lived, and it’s not surprising that his answer was, 258 00:21:28,479 –> 00:21:32,839 well, I’d most like to have the opportunity to interview Jesus. 259 00:21:32,839 –> 00:21:36,479 But here was a thing that fascinated me, he was then asked, if you had the chance to interview 260 00:21:36,479 –> 00:21:40,199 Jesus, what would you ask him? 261 00:21:40,199 –> 00:21:51,140 And here’s what Larry King said, I would ask him if he was really born of a virgin, because 262 00:21:51,140 –> 00:21:57,959 the answer to that question would define all history for me. 263 00:21:57,959 –> 00:22:02,599 Now that’s a brilliant question. 264 00:22:02,599 –> 00:22:10,239 I would ask him if he was really born of a virgin, because you see, if that is true, 265 00:22:10,239 –> 00:22:15,239 it immediately puts Jesus in a completely different category from you, and from me, 266 00:22:15,239 –> 00:22:22,859 and from every other human being and every other religious teacher who has ever lived. 267 00:22:22,859 –> 00:22:28,239 It would mean that he did not, like all others, come from the human race by the union of a 268 00:22:28,239 –> 00:22:37,060 father and a mother, but that he uniquely came to the human race as the gift of God. 269 00:22:37,060 –> 00:22:41,819 And that is precisely the teaching of the New Testament, that the one who was with God 270 00:22:41,839 –> 00:22:53,280 and the one who is God took human flesh, being born of a virgin and came among us. 271 00:22:53,280 –> 00:22:55,640 You are from this world, says Jesus. 272 00:22:55,640 –> 00:22:57,020 I am not from this world. 273 00:22:57,020 –> 00:23:01,199 You’re from below, I am from above. 274 00:23:01,199 –> 00:23:04,699 Joseph had no part in the conception. 275 00:23:04,699 –> 00:23:09,800 Jesus came from above, and was born of the Virgin Mary. 276 00:23:09,800 –> 00:23:15,699 Now that is why Jesus does not sit round the table with other great religious teachers 277 00:23:15,699 –> 00:23:18,400 from human history as his peers. 278 00:23:18,400 –> 00:23:25,500 They all came from us, however great their teaching. 279 00:23:25,500 –> 00:23:34,300 He came to us, and there is all the difference in the world. 280 00:23:34,300 –> 00:23:39,280 It’s the first thing you need to know about Jesus, and when you see it you’ll understand 281 00:23:39,280 –> 00:23:45,800 why he must, of necessity, stand in a category all of his own through all human history and 282 00:23:45,800 –> 00:23:48,880 across every culture. 283 00:23:48,880 –> 00:23:55,000 From heaven you came, helpless babe. 284 00:23:55,000 –> 00:23:58,319 Entered our world, your glory veiled. 285 00:23:58,319 –> 00:24:06,579 Not to be served but to serve, and to give your life that we might live. 286 00:24:06,579 –> 00:24:11,300 You need to know that he came from heaven. 287 00:24:11,300 –> 00:24:19,619 Secondly, Jesus makes it clear that you need to know that he was sent by the Father. 288 00:24:19,619 –> 00:24:24,219 Now, it’s one thing for someone to make extraordinary claims. 289 00:24:24,219 –> 00:24:30,180 It’s quite another to demonstrate that extraordinary claims are true. 290 00:24:30,180 –> 00:24:35,180 And the Pharisees, of course, are not slow to point out that Jesus is making these claims 291 00:24:35,479 –> 00:24:42,699 But who else is really going to stand up and testify that what he is saying is true. 292 00:24:42,699 –> 00:24:47,760 Now if you are hiring someone for a position, perhaps in a company that you work for, you 293 00:24:47,760 –> 00:24:49,979 go through a certain process. 294 00:24:49,979 –> 00:24:55,479 You’ll interview a number of candidates, listen to everything they have to say and all the 295 00:24:55,479 –> 00:24:58,280 things they tell you they can do. 296 00:24:58,280 –> 00:25:05,780 And after you’ve listened to what they say, you go and check some references. 297 00:25:05,780 –> 00:25:11,119 And the reason that you check some references is that you want to verify that what you’ve 298 00:25:11,119 –> 00:25:14,599 heard from the candidate is actually the truth. 299 00:25:14,599 –> 00:25:19,300 You’re looking for someone who will say, I was with Joe at college, and he was a very 300 00:25:19,300 –> 00:25:20,300 fine student. 301 00:25:20,300 –> 00:25:26,319 I have known Mary for twenty-five years, and she’s always done excellent work. 302 00:25:26,319 –> 00:25:31,920 We check the references because we want to make sure that the candidate’s statements 303 00:25:31,920 –> 00:25:33,900 are true. 304 00:25:33,900 –> 00:25:39,819 You don’t want to give the position to someone who’s talking a load of baloney, right? 305 00:25:39,819 –> 00:25:42,640 That’s why We have references. 306 00:25:42,640 –> 00:25:51,140 Now, when Jesus said in John 8 and verse 12, look at what He said, I am the light of the 307 00:25:51,140 –> 00:25:52,920 world. 308 00:25:52,920 –> 00:25:58,939 Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. 309 00:25:58,939 –> 00:26:05,060 The Pharisees heard these words and counted it as a lot of talk. 310 00:26:05,060 –> 00:26:07,300 And so immediately they challenged Him. 311 00:26:07,300 –> 00:26:11,099 You see that there in verse 13, the Pharisees challenged Him. 312 00:26:11,099 –> 00:26:13,920 Here you are appearing as your own witness. 313 00:26:13,920 –> 00:26:15,619 Your testimony is not valid. 314 00:26:15,619 –> 00:26:19,640 In other words they’re saying, it’s all very well for you to go around Jerusalem saying 315 00:26:19,699 –> 00:26:27,959 you’re the light of the world but who else is going to verify your claims? 316 00:26:27,959 –> 00:26:31,760 Now even at this time of course, there were plenty of people who believed in Jesus but 317 00:26:31,760 –> 00:26:35,880 the Pharisees weren’t interested in listening to a bunch of common people. 318 00:26:35,880 –> 00:26:40,020 In fact, if you look in chapter seven and verse 48, they make the point that nobody 319 00:26:40,020 –> 00:26:45,640 of note is following Him, just this common rabble and they say there’s a curse on them. 320 00:26:46,400 –> 00:26:55,319 No Jesus, who is there of some distinction and authority who will verify these great 321 00:26:55,319 –> 00:26:59,719 claims that you are making. 322 00:26:59,719 –> 00:27:08,780 Look at how Jesus answers in verse 18, ”I am one who testifies for myself, my other 323 00:27:08,780 –> 00:27:15,040 witness is the Father who sent me.” 324 00:27:15,939 –> 00:27:20,819 He looks them right in the eye and he says, ”You want to know who will verify my claims? 325 00:27:24,140 –> 00:27:26,579 God the Father will. 326 00:27:28,339 –> 00:27:30,839 God the Father will.” 327 00:27:33,219 –> 00:27:35,540 And if you think about it, how could it be any other way? 328 00:27:36,280 –> 00:27:47,239 Who else could verify the claim that Jesus was indeed seated in the glory of heaven? 329 00:27:48,599 –> 00:27:56,280 Who else could verify that they saw him leave the glory of heaven and take human 330 00:27:56,280 –> 00:28:01,000 flesh and be born of a virgin? Who else could reference that? 331 00:28:01,900 –> 00:28:08,699 Jesus is the only one person in all of the universe who can verify that, and that is the 332 00:28:08,699 –> 00:28:18,880 Father himself. And here’s how the Father verified the claims of the Son. On the third day after his 333 00:28:18,880 –> 00:28:29,380 crucifixion, God raised him from the dead. That’s the whole point of Peter’s proclamation on the 334 00:28:29,380 –> 00:28:38,000 Day of Pentecost. This Jesus of Nazareth was accredited to you by God, says Peter, by signs, 335 00:28:38,000 –> 00:28:46,920 wonders, and miracles. You put him to death, but God raised him from the dead and has exulted Him 336 00:28:46,920 –> 00:28:53,640 to the highest position. Now you see, it matters very little what this world thinks of Jesus. 337 00:28:53,640 –> 00:29:01,079 In our culture today, His claims are every bit as offensive when they’re properly understood as 338 00:29:01,079 –> 00:29:05,459 they were in the first century. The world’s view of Jesus has never changed and it never will. 339 00:29:05,459 –> 00:29:13,280 What matters is heaven’s view of Jesus, the Father’s view of Jesus, and Jesus says, 340 00:29:13,280 –> 00:29:20,000 Here’s what you need to know—I came from heaven, I was sent from heaven, and it’s not just my 341 00:29:20,219 –> 00:29:28,439 claims that you’re hearing. The Father backs these claims. These claims are endorsed in heaven itself. 342 00:29:30,479 –> 00:29:35,439 You need to know that Jesus came from heaven. It puts Him in a category all of His own. 343 00:29:35,439 –> 00:29:41,719 You need to know that He’s sent by the Father. What we’re reading in the New Testament here 344 00:29:42,119 –> 00:29:50,479 just some claim of a religious teacher, but it’s referenced and verified by God Himself. 345 00:29:50,479 –> 00:29:58,000 And thirdly and lastly, you need to know that He died to reconcile you to God. Look at verse 27, 346 00:29:58,000 –> 00:30:04,300 verse 28. They did not understand what He was telling them about His Father. So, 347 00:30:04,300 –> 00:30:09,839 Jesus said, When you’ve lifted up the Son of Man, then you’ll know that I’m the one I claim to be. 348 00:30:10,599 –> 00:30:16,260 Jesus spoke three times, recorded in John’s Gospel, about this being lifted up. And every 349 00:30:16,260 –> 00:30:21,500 time he was referring to the cross. You see, when someone was crucified, they were nailed 350 00:30:21,500 –> 00:30:30,239 to the wooden beam, horizontally lying down on the ground. And then when that awful thing had 351 00:30:30,239 –> 00:30:36,900 been accomplished, the wooden cross was lifted with the victim on it, lifted above the ground 352 00:30:37,079 –> 00:30:42,079 and then dropped into a hole in the surface of the ground. Lifted up. It must have been 353 00:30:42,079 –> 00:30:47,380 the most excruciating moment of physical suffering in the whole, awful process of crucifixion. 354 00:30:47,380 –> 00:30:58,500 And Jesus speaks about this. When I am lifted up, He says. Notice that he says, 355 00:30:58,500 –> 00:31:02,579 when I’m lifted up then you’ll know that I’m the one I claim to be. He’s not saying, 356 00:31:02,920 –> 00:31:08,500 that after the crucifixion, all of the Pharisees would become believers. But he’s saying that 357 00:31:08,500 –> 00:31:14,680 everyone who comes to believe will come to believe in the Son through what he has done 358 00:31:14,680 –> 00:31:21,140 on the cross. You see, the cross tells you the biggest single thing you need to know about 359 00:31:21,140 –> 00:31:27,780 Jesus. He came from heaven, that marks him unique in all human history. He was sent by 360 00:31:27,780 –> 00:31:38,339 the Father. Heaven endorses him. And he came to reconcile you to God. He died in order to lay 361 00:31:38,339 –> 00:31:44,819 down his life as a sacrifice so that men and women alienated from God could come to know him. 362 00:31:46,260 –> 00:31:50,020 That is why he came from heaven, that is why the Father sent the Son, 363 00:31:50,020 –> 00:31:56,339 and it is through his sacrifice on the cross that we come to know who he is and who God is. 364 00:31:58,260 –> 00:32:05,140 Do you really think that if we could all come to know God simply by projecting our experience or 365 00:32:05,140 –> 00:32:11,780 doing the religious thing, that the Father would have sent the Son? That the Son would 366 00:32:11,780 –> 00:32:16,020 have come? That he would have gone through the agony of being lifted up if we all knew God anyway? 367 00:32:19,459 –> 00:32:25,459 No, he came because we cannot know God by experience, and we cannot know God by religion. 368 00:32:25,459 –> 00:32:33,859 But Jesus said, if you knew me, you would know the Father. Here’s the central mystery 369 00:32:33,859 –> 00:32:39,780 of the whole of the Christian faith—that God was reconciling the world to himself 370 00:32:39,780 –> 00:32:48,260 in Jesus Christ. God wants you to know him. That’s why he sent Jesus to make himself known. 371 00:32:49,219 –> 00:32:55,780 And by his death, he makes it possible for men and women not only to know him, but 372 00:32:55,780 –> 00:33:00,180 in knowing him, to know the Father. 373 00:33:03,140 –> 00:33:04,979 And you will not know everything about God. 374 00:33:06,660 –> 00:33:11,060 But when you know Jesus, you will have a relationship with the Father. 375 00:33:11,060 –> 00:33:16,579 It will be begun, and it will continue for all eternity. 376 00:33:18,339 –> 00:33:25,619 Now, a Christian is someone whose life is shaped by certain convictions. 377 00:33:27,699 –> 00:33:30,660 I’m asking you in this last moment, are these your convictions? 378 00:33:32,339 –> 00:33:36,900 Do you believe that Jesus Christ came from heaven? 379 00:33:39,699 –> 00:33:43,859 Do you believe that he was sent by the Father? 380 00:33:44,260 –> 00:33:54,180 Do you believe that he died in order to reconcile you to God? 381 00:33:56,099 –> 00:34:07,699 That is what you most need to know about him. And when you know him, you will know the Father. 382 00:34:07,739 –> 00:34:15,139 I have to say to you that if these are your convictions, 383 00:34:15,139 –> 00:34:20,699 you will find yourself well out of line with today’s consensus. 384 00:34:20,699 –> 00:34:31,620 But you will know the Father because you know the Son. 385 00:34:31,620 –> 00:34:40,580 To God be the glory, great things he has done. 386 00:34:40,580 –> 00:34:46,659 He so loved this world that he gave us his Son, 387 00:34:46,659 –> 00:34:58,459 who yielded his life an atonement for sin and opened the life gate that all may go in. 388 00:34:58,459 –> 00:35:02,699 Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. 389 00:35:02,699 –> 00:35:05,580 Let the earth hear his voice. 390 00:35:05,580 –> 00:35:08,540 Praise the Lord. 391 00:35:08,540 –> 00:35:10,520 Let the people rejoice. 392 00:35:10,899 –> 00:35:24,040 Come to the Father, through Jesus the Son and give him the glory. 393 00:35:24,040 –> 00:35:26,800 Great things he has done.