Chuck Missler, John Chapter 3, Session 4

[Music] well I'm glad to welcome you to our exploration of the Gospel of John and tonight's session is going to exemplify a comment that is often made about the gospel in general they say it's shallow enough for a child to wade in and is deep enough to wash an elephant and what they mean by that of course is that it works for beginners very comfortably many people recommend this gospel is your first exposure to the Bible on the other hand is also the one that will challenge the most seasoned scholar about the Bible so it works both ways and tonight will be an example of that because it has some of the most profound truths in the entire scripture and yet it's done in such a direct simple way no one can miss the story no matter how new they are to the material so say it's going to exemplify that very characteristic but we never want to enter the Word of God without prayer so let's bow our hearts father we thank you for this evening and we know that in your kingdom the new accidents that we're all here right now by your divine appointment so it's our prayer father you will join us and open our hearts and lives to your word that we might grow in grace and in the knowledge of our coming King as we commit this hour and ourselves into your hands in the name of Yeshua the Lord Jesus Christ indeed amen the Gospel of John and so we're in the fourth session and we're going to explore John chapter three a very rich chapter for many reasons but for a little background you may recall in the last session I urged you to explain oh I read the chapter but to do little homework in the in chapter numbers 21 in the Torah and where it has this strange episode of the brazen or brass serpent and I challenge you to find a place where this episode is explained in the Old Testament we're in the Old Testament is a very strange event the more you think about it the stranger is you would expect it to be explained somewhere in the Old Testament and I challenge you to find the place where it is explained in the Old Testament and the the presence of this event in the Torah in the Book of Numbers one of the five books of Moses has a profound implication for apologetics now what do I mean by apologetics that's a classic term meaning to speak in defense of something and it's the discipline of defending a position through the systematic exercise of reason so apologetics is a specialized area of study and we're called upon Pete by Peters second letter who tells us to be ready always to get every man an answer of the reason of the hope that's in you now don't let that dissuade you you don't come to faith through reasoning but it is a study and the question I asked you last time is how does the numbers event the brazen serpent thing help us from the point of view of apologetics in defending the faith in general that was my that was the challenge so what I'd like to do for those of you that did your homework let's start by just this piece of background before we get into John chapter 3 and we're going to turn to numbers chapter 21 starting at verse 4 garden I now we're in the Torah the books of Moses and they journeyed from out horror by the way of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way now they're discouraged because they just they've just had a major victory at hormone and yet they found reason to grumble in fact that the wilderness wanderings is just from one rumble to the next okay men and how God you really can understand how they go out of a way to try his patience because he keeps doing these incredible miracles and still they grumble so this is an example of that going to verse 5 here and the people speak against God and against Moses wherefore have ye bro us up out of the Egypt to die in the wilderness for there is no brand neither is there any water and our soul oh this this light bridge talking about the manna they've had with the manna we've had manna pancakes and they then you know Manischewitz I guess but anyway whatever so they're speaking against that in verse six Moses sentence fiery serpents among them and if the word fiery refers to the poisonous bite of the snakes created a burning sensation so that was a term it felt like fire is the point but then we these serpents are biting people and they died and so and so they go to Moses and get to verse eight and the Lord said unto Moses make me a fiery serpent now hairy means one out of breast and set it on a pole and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten when he looketh upon it shall live and Moses made a serpent of brass put it upon a pole and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived now that's a strange episode let's not dismiss the fact that's weird God sent thee because they were grumbling and complaining god sent these serpents that were poisonous and is obviously painful and they died and is that starting to happen they're upset so Moses goes to the Lord and the Lord sets up this remedy he tells Moses to make a brass Serpent put it on a pole on top of the hill and everyone that looks at will be healed and they were okay now you would think that this strange remedy would be explained somewhere it certainly isn't straightforward and where in the Old Testament is this remedy explained and if you search the Old Testament you will not find anywhere that this is rationalized or explain why did God choose this peculiar way to create a remedy for the snakebites a blast serpent on a pole why now and then just looking at it would be the remedy and they wouldn't die now you can't escape the fact that's weird okay now there's lots of ways to apply this if you were preaching from this see the ancient Israelites were guilty of disobedience and grumbling with an unfaithful spirit they were under the condemnation of God and were being punished for their sin that's the background here the object elevated before them was simply the emblem of their judgment okay they were unable to rescue themselves nothing they could do could avoid the death from the bite okay the poisonous serpents is deadly and there was no antidote for it they were urged to look at the emblem in order to receive life it's that simple that's as much as you can extract by rationalizing this thing in fact it turns out 700 years later that brass serpent is still around they're worshipping it and Hezekiah when he finds out about this he's purging the land of idols and other things in 2nd Kings 18 verse 4 speaking of Hezekiah he removed the high places those were the idol-worshipping areas and he broke the images and he cut down the groves the groves were trees cut into phallic symbols that were part of the pagan worship in those days and break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made for after those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it this brass serpent was still around and they were worshiping it like a fetish of some kind it's like some people today take the Shroud of Turin or something it was around and it was still a notary but they were worshipping anything and so Hezekiah called it no who sh ton and that simply means and it's a thing of brass so he destroyed it he had to destroy it because they were all worshipping and got but that's 700 years later so the impact of what happened back in the days of Moses were still being echoed through their culture in fact about 200 years after this there's a guy by my Escalade pious you know if you ever heard of aesculapius he apparently was a very skilled physician who practiced in Greece about 1200 BC Moses about 1450 BC give you things about two centuries after the event with the brazen serpent this legend starts about escalade pious and in fact it's described in Homer's Odyssey by the way or to the Iliad and escalade pious it started there was a legend he that became a symbol of Medicine a snake on a pole becomes a symbol of healing in the Jewish in the Hebrew culture about two hundred years after the Moses thing but anyway this escalade pious or it goes by either the Greek or the Latin translation he's considered the god of medicine in the Greek mythology in ancient Greek practices and it's interesting that to this day if you look at the World Health Organization the symbol is a globe with a single pole it's they would tell you that's aesculapius which is based on the Greek legend but they don't dig deeply enough the Greek legend is based on Moses two centuries earlier for them and if you look here in new zealand likewise they have the embodied in the symbol and in the medical council also you see that when you see the single serpent on a pole that goes back to escalate yes in fact even one step earlier it's that it's an echo of number 21 most people don't know that in fact in america they messed this up you might be there is also a greek god by the name of Hermes and he is represented by two snakes on a pole okay what maybe he was the great messenger of gods in the Greek religion and he was a guy presumably to the underworld he was the considered the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who crossed them of the cunning thieves and waste measures of invention and thus he becomes a symbol of color I'm always amused by this because if you see a doctor's license plate you usually see a single pole on the snake after Nazca ladies can understand why in America more often not you see two snakes and the eagle which happened they think it's the expression of medicine no it's two hits the expression of Commerce and so if you have certain sentences about doctors you might get a kick out of that that's called a caduceus and that's that comes from the herald staff and it really speaks of Hermes it was a short staff with two serpents sometimes fronted by wings and Roman iconography it was detected as the left hand of mercury and he was a guide of the protector of merchants shepherds gamblers liars and thieves and so in fact if you look at some of the classic stuff here mercury and the merchants approach approaching here disapprovingly miss approving aesculapius and the naked Grayson's were the daughters escalate this by the way and I will get all that here but the main point is is that Aesculapius dealt with patients merchants make deals with clients that was the distinction and the distinction between is celebrated in the ancient art and so every time if you're in America and you're driving and you see the little caduceus you can have a little chuckle at their expense if you like so that's a little background on number 21 now let's shift indicate what you came for and that's John chapter 3 and the visit of Nicodemus and this is going to be interesting because Jesus is going to take on the deepest topics in the scripture in such direct ways that we can't miss them and so so let's take the first verse there was a man of Pharisees named Nicodemus a ruler of the Jews and this guy seemed to have everything he was a Pharisee which was the key place to be from he was disciplined and de spected he was wealthy and from a distinguished family but he's also a ruler technically which implies he was in the Sanhedrin and a teacher and not only a teacher the teacher but despite all of this we'll discover he was in the dark before he met Jesus that's what's going to come up here now the Pharisees you should understand them a man of the Pharisees now we often get disparaging about Pharisees because some excess of legalism but however he belonged to the best group in Israel they believed in the inspiration of the Old Testament they believed in the coming of the Messiah and they believed in miracles in fact they believed in the resurrection that distinguished them from the Sadducees which were the Liberals of that day they didn't believe in the resurrection that's why they were sad you see and that silly little pun will remind you which is which the Pharisees were the conservatives that Sadducees were the extreme liberals it's interesting by the way as a footnote here that many of the Pharisees came to faith in Christ when he did many priests did you can't find any record in the scripture on the Sadducees coming to faith I'm not saying they didn't it's just an issuing observation that you don't find any recorded in the scripture and I think there's a there's a lesson in all of it let's get back to Nicodemus the Talmud record Nicodemus is one of the four richest men in Jerusalem and a disciple of Jesus that's recorded in the Jewish Talmud strangely Paulson's records that Nicodemus was a member of the aristocracy that furnished the furnished the Hasmonean King established the second with his ambassador to Pompeii in 63 BC so this was very influential from the very influential families the point and his son by the way apparently was the man that negotiated the terms of surrender to the Roma garrison in jerusalem prior to the final destruction of that city in 70 AD so we find Nicodemus surfacing the family in history there and as we studied John we're going to see him progress from this visit that we're going to experience here in chapter 3 where he's visiting at night we'll come to that in a minute later on in chapter 7 he actually goes he defends to some extent Jesus against the Sanhedrin and then finally of course he know he anointed Jesus burial in in joy 19 we'll get to that bit later okay we're down to verse two we're making progress here the same came to Jesus by night and said unto Him rabbi we know that thou art a teacher come from God for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with him and so that's not a surprise to most people know the Bible know that he came at night what most people miss is that the Greek verbs are in the plural which implies that he represented a faction he is speaking up not just on his own part of group and he's coming at night any for a lot of good reasons but it's as we know and the plural in the Greek implies that he may be representing some kind of private group here and so that and they may have been among the Sanhedrin and impressed with the miracles and so that thou art a teacher come from God that's an interesting insight now that raises some challenge for us how do you tell if a teacher comes from God that's a non trivial appellation there how do you know that and there are several verses that give us clues on how to do that but one way you do is attest it that's what John will emphasize in his first letter and that's also it's emphasized in Revelation chapter two in the first of the seven letters churches and that you test it by the Word of God that's the yardstick the scripture tells you that teacher did to measure your teachers and we'll talk more about that before the evening is over jesus answered and said unto Him verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God how many heard that before okay it's a well overworked phrase it's not translated quite accurately but not born again but born from above is what it really is translated the word born again is a Guinness I - it's used 13 times the New Testament with four different meanings from the top from above the first or from the beginning or again born again is an allowable but it's only one of several it really is born from above is the concept that is being expressed here and so jesus replied the además is very cryptic and yet very abrupt he informed that no man could even see the kingdom of God without a spiritually birth that's just that's his premise here we're jumping right into what's probably the deepest doctrine in the Bible this whole idea of the spiritual rebirth regeneration if you will see birth is our mode of entrance into the world and brings with it the potential equipment for adjustment to the world okay to be born from above means a transformation of a person so that he is able to enter another world and adapt to its conditions that's why the term born from above isn't just a figure of speech it's a very descriptive term because as a Greek creation going on here and so Jesus answering said to him except I said they except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God and that word see is an interesting word the it's it's just translated see here but it implies discernment or perception of meaning rather than simply register registration registration a registering a visual image and there's a different Greek word you'd use if you just meant to see it in the visual sense now this means to really experience it really perceive it and so we're dealing with regeneration the necessity of the new birth grows out of the incapacity of the natural man to see your enter into the kingdom of God that's a intrinsic basic incapacity that's being dealt with here however gifted however moral or we find the natural man is absolutely barring the spiritual droop and impotent to enter the kingdom for he can neither obey understand or please God there's an abundance of Scripture that nails that down all the way through the scripture Jeremiah 17:9 is one of the choices one sailor what a jerk God for Jeremiah says that the natural man the heart of man is incurable desperately wicked as the way in is in the English the King James but the word actually means not just it means incurable nowhere in the Bible do you have a heart turd or repaired no it's always replaced very key uniformity through the scripture and the new birth is not a reformation of the old nature you can't reform the old nature but it's a creative act of the Holy Spirit it's very interesting to see how that symphonic in the language we're talking about a new birth not a repair of an old a new creation and we talked about in the very first chapter of John that he became that it granted him the power to become sons of God to be direct creations of God again and so the condition of the new birth the condition of it is faith in Christ crucified and we're before this chapter is out that's specific is going to be emphasized not just Christ in general not just that he's a great teacher not just that even miracles no no the cross turns out to be the key to the whole thing we'll get there through the new birth the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature and the life of Christ himself and that's present tense not future tense we'll get into that too as we go here we're down to verse four we're making progress here Nicodemus said on him how can a man be born again when he is old can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born you know if you look at this naively say boy he doesn't get it no he's trying to get at the reality what he's really trying to communicate here there's actually two questions being asked here the possibility of new birth is being questioned and then the process by which it happens is being questioned he's answered verily verily I say unto the nuts of interesting praise that Jesus uses when he wants to emphasize something you'll see I say unto you such and so if you wants to underscore his verily I say unto you such and so when he wants to really underline it he does this occasionally verily verily truly truly that it's very very nice into you that's a way of paying attention to what's following ok except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit the spirit trying to get a question these are two very different things and flesh is Sark's it's used here in terms of humanity and that was echoed but in our first chapter we went through all that before but and but even the word itself carries a hint of the corrupt nature the flesh became humanity the senses within capacity Jesus contains Marvel not that I said unto thee ye must be born again the wind blows worthlessness and now here's the sound era but thou canst not tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit now if you're not going to sense that in the usual natural census the word he's playing puns here because the word wind in both the Hebrew and in the Greek in the in the Hebrew it's walk and the Greek it is Numa but in both languages the same word for a wind is also the word for the spirit those are deliberate puns if you will yes the Holy Spirit uses puns and here's an example of it and we was used about 370 times the New Testament and all but once the references to the Spirit not wind as we normally think of it okay and was emphasizing here is the sovereignty of the Spirit the Holy Spirit is not subject to our devices it is sovereign that's another thing we should be as we get into that subject to really understand in fact it's kind of interesting to compare what's going on here with the creation of Justice chapter 1 in Genesis chapter 1 verse 11 12 and 21 it always emphasizes that what comes forth was after its own kind all the way through if you read that first chapter everything comes forth is after its own kind and there's broader parallels drawn there in Chapter 1 the darkness the spirit broods in there's light after their kind so you get it's it's it's it's a the light is we we went through that whole metaphor thing in that first chapter I compare this with John 3 that which is born of the flesh is flesh that which is born in the spirit the spirit no one gets a change of heart that's a phrase we might use linguistically the scripture doesn't Jesus gives them a new heart born of the water or this would fit see it see from the beginning new creation now this leads to some confusion some people assume because it makes reference to water that's referring to baptism very very common presumption but be careful there's no match in the Old Testament about being saved by baptism the ritual of baptism had ceremonial ritual effects and that is emulated in from Acts chapter 2 on but there's no use of that the Old Testament as being saved and as you think about this remember the repentant thief on the cross he was on the cross unsaved but repentant and Jesus announces him saved there was no chance for any baptized and and there's a lot to learn from that now police to which is baptism is recommended but not essentially that's a big controversy among many many may not agree with me but I'm going to we have that view and I don't expect you to accept it but I'll show you why we hold that view as we go on so you want to be careful not to quit works in the way of grace all our benefits from Chrysler by His grace not by anything we do and to try to add to Grace's blessings strangely enough water is used emblematical II all through John's writings chapter 4 chapter 7 we're going to this again again he uses water as an emblem not not in the connection of despotism directly and baptism is associated with the word throughout the scripture and it's used for cleansing in the fusions and elsewhere we'll deal with that prevent as the gospel unfolds well word out of verse 9 Nicodemus answered and said to him how can these things be Jesus Andrew said unto Him art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things see Jesus regarded they think he thinks this is primary stuff and he's astonished because Nicodemus isn't a guy off the street he is not a teacher as translated King James there's actually a definite article there it actually says the teacher he's the teacher he was well known respected as an authority Nicodemus should have known this because it's in the Old Testament by the way number of verses we'll just pick one to take a look at this and zekiel chapter 36 and we're God says to Ezekiel then I will sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean and from all your filthiness and from all your idols imma Kalenjin a new heart a new heart also what I give you and a new spirit well I put within you see these are Old Testament concepts emerging here and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh soft heart other words and so I new heart what are you doing and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and she'll keep my judgments and do them and you shall glow my land that I gave to your father's and you shall be my people and I will be your God that's the future that's a prediction and I will get it all out here but the concepts there are the Old Testament back to John chapter 3 picking up at verse 11 Jesus contains us verily verily I say to thee we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness if I have told you earthly things and you believe not how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things good question and it's it's a it's interesting here that Jesus uses plural verbs himself in discussing this with Nicodemus and we find we we we four times the Jesus is using the first-person plural and heaven to see a prepared place for a prepared people he's speaking collectively not just for himself four times he continues and no man hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven even the Son of Man which is in heaven and then we get to this strange verse Jesus explains to Nicodemus he says and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up a little one-liner that has profound implications for every one of us for lots of about three or four different reasons and insisted that he would be lifted up that's a word by the way the word that's actually used there is used for the crucifixion chapter eight and chapter 12 that's not crucial to us here as Moses lifted up the serpent the wilderness even socialist settlement you can read the entire Old Testament not find an excellent explanation until John chapter 3 where Jesus gives Nicodemus this insight and the first point that hit me as just a student of Scripture is to recognize that that idiom that was inserted in numbers 21 by the Lord using that emblem was anticipate ory of Golgotha the reason that such an impact is because it obviously was an anticipatory emblem of something that was going to happen thousands of years later and then in itself is is useful apologetically because it's a demonstration of something we've said all along but you're going to hear it again and again that be 66 books we call the Bible or an integrated message every detail in the entire message even written by over 40 different guys over almost 2,000 years every detail renumber every place name is there deliberately and when you peel that onion look at it you'll discover not only is it deliberately there it always in some way points to the messiah to jesus christ and this is one of the cleanest simplest examples of this there are hundreds of these the breasts are why a brass serpent the serpent was a symbol of sin from Genesis 3 no surprise brass Levitical II was the material that could sustain fire that's why altars and things were made of brass because it could sustain the fire and so it becomes brass becomes the Levitical emblem of judgment that's why everything in the tabernacle it's outside the holy place is brass it always rests on silver sockets because it always rests on silvers assemble of blood it rests on shed blood everything inside the holy place is not pass it's gold and it's designed to look gorgeous when you're inside and it's covered with these four different covering so it's deliberately designed to look awful outside when you inside there's a whole study of the tabernacle we talked about last time I don't go through that again right so basically the brass serpent is sin being judged okay then why is Jesus raised as a serpent Paul tells us in second Corinthians 5:21 speaking of the crucifixion it's Paul just for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him when you discover the real implications of Golgotha and Jesus on that cross you discover that he a sinless man was made thin for us Faysal a lot of different ways is the Christmas one the cleanest one will that's staggering in fact the only time throughout eternity that Jesus didn't call him father was huzi hung on that cross my God my God why has thou forsaken me why he said cuz he's our shoes he's taken our place he would talk more about that in this cuz he hath made say that incidentally is incomprehensible for most Moses cannot imagine a sinless God becoming man and then allowing himself to be made sin for us and when you think about that by the way don't ever look the Father anybody's been a father knows how they would gladly change places with their son in suffering or abuse can you imagine the father looking down and watching what's going on his forbearance to let that proceed for our benefit not only did Jesus love us to endure all that the father loved us to endure all that and as you way there's we could go on and on let's move on here the apologetic implications I don't want to I don't want to forget their crucifixion had not been invented back there in the days of wrote Moses strolling was the official form of execution and yet this emblem of the raising on a pole was identified in numbers 21 long before crucifixion was invented in about the early 6th about 60 BC by the Persians and widely adopted by the Romans of course this design was inserted from outside the time to me in anticipation of future fulfillment this wasn't a lucky guess that the Father did somehow Moses may you anticipate known it also wasn't something that Jesus could have deliberately set up for himself no this is staggering but the some other this environment hermeneutics is the study of your theory of interpretation so the lessons we learn from all of this by watching this that go beyond just the immediate lesson here the Jewish rabbis will speak of a remiz a remiz is a hint of something deeper and the remedy is the plural of that there hints of something deeper there is no detail in the Bible that's accidental every detail every number every place name is there deliberately and and it's always no is it deliberate it's always about Jesus and by the way when you run into these you have to chase them down right away just take comfort in that an explanation will eventually emerge in his timing and half the thrill of a treasure hunt through the Bible is as these things pop up and you discover them for yourself staggering and it will reinforce the reality that you're dealing with a supernatural product in your lap and when you discover that for yourself it changes your whole attitude towards the Bible the precision the details is staggering and whenever you find a contradiction joy and jump for joy you think you found something in the Bible country itself great because as you unravel that you'll discover a surprise hidden behind it there surprises hidden behind the details and when you discover them for yourself they're fantastic and so we saw here in John chapter 3 that this brazen serpent was anticipated from number 21 we've just gone through that you may recall last time we discovered that the wedding at Cana I've heard that preached on for over 50 years and no one ever links it to their hashes the red heifer and when you do you've got the third day issue you've got its linkage with the temple a strange way and you discover there again the last part of that chapter weighs casting out the moneychangers ties to the first part the wedding in Cana that's a little more subtle I'll leave it up to you to sort through that limousine it's full of it the three-day emphasis all through numbers 19 on the ashes of red heifer and the fact that all that is length even though it's distant from its link to the temple what temple the temple that he's going to raise in three days that's all explained okay and you missed that unless you've really wanted to dig a little deep referral for the thing now the only basis for all of this is the cross not as miracle it's not as teaching not as example no no the cross and that's going to come up in the rest of this chapter here and this whole incident of the brazen serpent leads to its inverse or two before the most well-known verse in the entire Bible and that's John 3:16 he's container that whosoever believeth him should not perish but have eternal life for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have it resting with how many heard that birth before how many of you have memorized ok please God okay the word perish there by the way is an unfortunate translation in no New Testament instance does it signify the cessation of existence or or the exist of consciousness it's a condition to every non-believer and so the word Apollo me is it means reading Marg rendered useless it's not perish in the way we might think of it and that's amply documented throughout the verses but here's the verse for God so loved the world this is the big one this is the biggie and let's talk about that the word eternal life is misunderstood by going that's not something future that's not something you look forward to boy when I die I'll have you turn a life that misses what he's saying first of all why did God give a son that whosoever believes in should not perish but have everlasting life and John uses that phrase 16 times throughout his injustice gospel now the greek memmio's and the noun zoe implies that eternal life begins at the moment of faith and never ends it's not something you get when you die something you have now whether you know it or not you don't have to wait until you die to have eternal life you have it now and it's more than endless existence it's sharing the divine life you try to embrace that when it really gets wild now it's a God so loved the world the word degree is cosmos the word for world it really means bringing order out of chaos is what the word actually means that's why it's also the root word in the term cosmetics bringing order out of chaos okay okay I have to work that in nate'll take me to task when I get home over that one but that's fine now see the world is under judgment we're going to be shocked when we get to John 17 because when Jesus prays he emphasizes with vog I don't pray for the world really what soul enema well we'll get there in John 17 but then the world's under judgment we know from John 9 that will be emphasized it's in the control of its Prince which is Satan who's the god of this world and John will deal with that in Chapter 12 so it's in control of the Prince Satan but it's yet overcome by Christ in John 16 and following so now if we take this verse that we've all memorized for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth hamp should not perish but have everlasting life it's interesting to dissect that a little bit for God that's the greatest being conceivable right so that's the greatest degree loved the greatest affection the world the object of that love that he gave that the greatest act is to give his only the greatest treasure namely the greatest relationship the begotten son the greatest gift the greatest company that whosoever and any larger groups then whosoever okay believeth that the greatest trust in him the greatest object of faith should not perish that's the greatest deliverance possible but have present-tense greatest assurance the greatest promise of everlasting life of course the greatest blessing each one is is clearly the superlative not the comparative comparative and all the way down the list that's why that had such an incredible power at the more you study it and why we'd going on I'll spare you that let's we keep moving here for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved he that believeth on him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God that's a heavy verse I didn't say that he did and this is the condemnation the light is coming to the world and Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil you know we spent a lot of time in that first session about metaphors and some of the depth of them metaphors rainwear mysteries azide and we went through the light thing we're not talking about light in the usual sense here far beyond that this the condemnation that light is come in the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are of as a shocker in the middle of this thing the word love there may surprise you as to which of the several Greek verbs it uses men desire the desire of men was to remain blind men agape Oh darkness rather than light the verb agape oh isn't God's love that's the noun using the special way agape Oh as a Greek verb means to be totally given over to Wow loved darkness rather than light the verb is to be totally given over to men love darkness rather than light that's their choice see the whole issue of faith in God is not about reason yes there's a reason for the hope that is in you and you need to be able to declare that but that's not you get to get there people flee it because of accountability it isn't the great little X that are saved it's the ones that are humble before before their Creator that are saying that's why pride with PhDs PhD sounds phenomenally dumb as what's temperament this is really I know cuz I r1 see okay anyway we're going to verse 24 everyone that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved see unbelief is a flight and attempt to flight flee accountability flee accountability but he that doeth truth comes to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God and there's a strange phrase here doeth truth and in the Greek there it's a phrase used only twice and both by John here in John 3 and in his first letter he uses that strange doing the truth as you know that truth is also a title of Christ which he emphasizes the second letter you'll also discover something most commentators miss and that is the second of his three letters was a personal note to Mary and it changes the whole letter and once you discover that for yourself but let's move on here see the belief is that participation not just intellectual acknowledgement you don't believe the truth you do the truth you participate in it you you it you participated as your goal is to be a medic oi and participate a participant in Christ we're getting ahead of ourselves after these things came Jesus in cycles in the land of Judea and he tarried there with them and baptized in that first phrase translated into English after these things the Greek term there is meta tota and if you're a student of the book of Revelation you know that the book of Revelation in the first chapter of 19 verse gives you an outline of the whole book divides it into three parts things which you have seen things which are things which shall be meta toga after these things and we get to Revelation chapter 4 verse 1 it opens with that marker and it is a partitioner if you will of the book of Revelation which is one of the several hints that causes me to suspect the john world is gospel after pappas after Padma's the hints of that all through here this is one of them it's used a marker in the gospel and it was also his marker in book of Revelation chapter 1 verse 19 chapter 4 verse 1 when continuing here now it says in John me John the Baptist also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim because there was much water there and they came and were baptized and so the exact location of the ena is a little uncertain or two possible sites suggested by the commentaries when south of Bashan where their numerous Springs of course and the other one is a short distance from second but of these two both Eusebius and jerome mentioned the former one and that's the more likely one I think for a lot of reasons it's not a big deal one or the other for us at least but okay for John was not yet cast into prison then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying and they came to John said unto him rabbi he that was with me beyond the Jordan to whom thou barest witness behold the same baptizeth and all men come to him so there are some of John's disciples because now I might something it's a little confusing the synoptic Gospels that's Matthew Mark and Luke sometimes called the synoptic Gospels for a number of reasons they write about Jesus public ministry only after John the Baptizer is in prison from what she doesn't ask it's murder martyred as you know and so but in a case is a point here though where God's disciples are confused and John answered and said a man can receive nothing except be given him from heaven ye yourselves very witness that I said I am NOT the Christ but that I am sent before him so John here is underscoring some confusion because his own disciples don't really get it that this other guy is the Messiah himself he that hath the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of bridegroom's voice this my joy therefore is fulfilled now I understand John the Baptist is calling himself a friend of the bridegroom what does that tell you that tells you is not the bridegroom obviously it tells you something else he's also not the bride and people miss that okay now there are many scholars most scholars assume that the body of Christ and the right of Christ are synonymous and I'll share with you candidly then I'm among a very small minority that suspects they're not synonymous they mean almost the same thing watch out for that almost because between the difference may be a discovery that's still under study and is very controversial so I just want to alert you not to jump to conclusions that they are exactly synonymous they may be they may not be the bridegroom okay Jesus is going to use this metaphor of himself in mark chapter 2 and Paul uses that same metaphor in 2nd Corinthians 11 and visions 5 and John elder here uses it not only here but he uses it twice in the experience at that was the book of Revelation so it's a very very useful idiom to be sensitive to but he but John the Baptist instructing his disciples says speaking of Jesus he must increase I must decrease he that cometh from above is above all he that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth he that cometh from heaven is above all so that's his extolling here and see the more I'm occupied with Christ the less I shall be occupied with myself and I should be true of all of us he's what it's all about and what he has seen and heard that he desta Fife and no man we see with his testimony he that received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true set to a seal it goes true that's just a underscoring of the security we have there's plenty of verses you can track down in your notes if you want to challenge that for some reason and it's also authenticated in John 6 we're going to deal with this when we get there again and of course even Esther 8 and elsewhere for he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him now there's no restriction just have two teaspoons well none of his knees without measure the father loveth the son and get this yep this phrase here if I beloved son and have given all things into his hand now what are the studies you can undertake on your own encourage you to do so is you can take every major event in the Bible from the creation to the birth of Christ to the Ascension of Christ the resurrection of Christ is essential Christ you can take every major event in the scripture and you'll discover verses that ascribe it to the Father in other places that ascribe it to the Holy Spirit every one of them and ascribe it to the Sun and it's if you go through that exercise and pull those all together it's an astonishing persuasion that the three are distinct but yet unified Oh God one in the innocence of unity and you'll find the Trinity the concept of the Trinity is all through the Old Testament not just in it but you really want to dig that up for yourself really get the most next method he that believeth on the son well here's another one of your favorite bible verses he that believeth on the son hath not will have hath present-tense everlasting life and he that believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him now he that believeth not is a unbelief is active not passive it is a willful disobedience against God as the is the grammar here essential not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him this is the only place in any of John's epistles or his gospel that he uses the word raft but even six times in the book of Revelation everlasting life does not mean eternity later in heaven I think I've already exercised that the believer already possesses that life right now it is a life of God in the believer it's hard for us to imagine what that means that the life of God is inglot's us now see what is what we're dealing with here is not denominationalism we're not dealing with anything other than a personal one-on-one relationship with him a living relationship you've been born into a new family it is a loving relationship it's the relationship is modeled between the bride groom and a bride God uses the marriage throughout the entire scripture as a model of intimacy far beyond the husband and wife thing that's just intended as a model of him communicating what he really means by intimacy it's a loving relationship and that's a whole study on its own of course it's also a learning relationship which we meditate on the word and we make it part of our lives it's a lifetime thing this is not something to do by tending you meeting now and then or even a weekly study group that's great no no it's a lifetime endeavor it's a lifetime treasure hunt but I want to pause for a minute and pick up another thread that I started earlier the foolishness of God you know it's hard to even imagine a sentence with both those words in it foolishness of God you've got they must be antithetical have you ever noticed that God often seems to resort to strange or bizarre remedies obviously the brass serpent is a springboard here the foolishness of God God decides to wipe out the entire world it's probably several billion people he decides to save nine people and which is a full three oh yes there's one that was pulled out beforehand God my name Athena but then you had four guys known as three sons and therefore lives eight build a barge to survive and we start the world now the whole flood of Noah is is a a laughingstock to people who think they've done some homework most people who make fun of it haven't done their homework couldn't be big enough how big was it how many Springs and start asking some questions cover most people have another home and those that have are amazed what they discover that's all another thing certainly the whole idea is a strange way of solving the problem isn't and what about every save save a turkey green Samson with a jawbone of an ass kills a thousand people and I you know why the job over the irony was it was it was God just trying to be colorful I suspect so and last time we call it the Ashley the red heifer this weird ritual that even the rabbis don't understand why do the white as a guy that's going to get purified over the seven days on the third day gets sprinkled what's the third day third day third day all through that thing and it all has to do with a set but this sanctuary which isn't even involved there's distance what's going on well we did that less than this thing we got the brazen serpent it these are weird things let's see what Paul tells us about this support is written I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring the nothing the understanding of the prudent where is the wise where is the scribe where is the disputer of this world hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world is his challenge you can hit here for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not god it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men foolishness have got you as I praise it can't help but stumble that's a strange collection of words there I didn't make them up they're here and I'm taking us out of the scripture Paul continues there include 1st corinthians 1 for ye see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but god hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty and I love this and it was Queen Elizabeth said she was saved by an EM he said claimed she was saved by now because she noticed here he doesn't say not any noble he said not many noble so she felt she was saved by him like that but Paul containers and the base things of this world and the things which are despised hath God chosen yea and the things which are not to bring to nought things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence well you know it's pretty interesting we talked about those barge Samson's jawbone Ashley red heifer and of course the brazen serpent what's the ultimate foolishness of God what foolishness of his strikes us as the strangest of them all I wouldn't cross direct into the entire universe everything past and future is all measured by any event that occurs when called refer Isaiah said that child is born as son is given to us and so were those quotes at a Christmas not synonymous the child is born it was in Bethlehem the Sun that was given was it called is separated by thirty three and a half years and by what twenty thirty miles whatever here's the answer for the in verse 18 of the passage that we're reading for the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God this is a very disturbing verse for a number of reasons there are only two categories in this version to them that perish it looks foolish that everybody everything every event all of history is to be measured by the events relating to a wooden cross that was erected engineered some 2,000 years ago he was crucified on a cross of wood yet he made the very hill on which is to no one is then that perish is the one group the other group unto us which are saved one thing I want you to notice when perskin is 118 there are only two categories and the thing I want you to think about I don't want you raise your hands I just want you to think about it for a minute in which category are you I know what your first reaction is but I'm going to challenge it are you really sure are you really sure I'm going to close with just Philippians 2 12 and 13 we're Paulette but it manages us to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure see we don't want there's not an altar called come down here and we go ahead now and then others that may give you that here I want you to become what's known as a self feeder I want you to come to conclusions from your study not because I recommended something there's some hazards I want you to be aware one way you protect your from error is to rely on the whole Council of God stay away from one verse theology everything should agree and test all things by the word of God not some influential speaker whoever he might be it's the Word of God not men however influential they might be your eternity depends on your diligence not theirs so with that for the next session I'd like you to prepare for next time I'd like you to study chapters 4 and 5 so we'll make a little we've spent some time going slowly to set some foundation here but we'll move on a little bit we pick two chapters next time and as you read those chapters I want you to explore free healings that occur I want you to identify four witnesses four different witnesses and I want you to understand two resurrections all that in these two little chapters and with that let's bow our hearts for a word of Prayer father we thank you for who you are we thank you for this time we thank you for the extremes that you've gone to that we might have life and life abundantly we thank you for your word we thank you for your spirit we thank you for this time together we thank you for your presence in our lives and father we do pray that your purpose in each of our lives will be achieved not by power by night moment by your spirit as we commit ourselves without any reservations whatsoever the Lord Jesus Christ [Music] you

Channel: Emmaus Road

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Keywords: Jesus, Christ, Messiah, Christian, faith, believer, Salvation, Chuck Missler, Jesus Christ, Yeshua, Lamb of God, Apostle John, Saint John, Gospel, New Testament, Eternal security, Grace, Faith, Lord, Saviour, Bible, Holy Scriptures, The Gospel of John, Gospel of John, John's Gospel, Gospel according to John

Id: e0hfilIXmtY

Length: 64min 46sec (3886 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 13 2017