John 10:22-42 (Teaching)

[0:00] Good morning. Good morning. Back in the Gospel of John this morning, John chapter 10.

[0:10] We got as far as I wanted to get last week, and I was thankful for that. I'd like to think that we could end this chapter today, but we'll see if we get that far.

[0:25] We ended in verse 22 last week. There's 42 verses in this particular chapter, so I don't know if we'll make it to the end or not, but we'll try.

[0:35] Last week, we ended with the immediate discourse that Jesus was having back and forth with these people that actually began in John chapter nine.

[0:51] And we finally reached the end of that particular discussion that Jesus was having with these religious rulers.

[1:01] And we ended with, well, we'll read the last three verses of what we read previously last week. Starting in verse 19, it says, there was a division, therefore, again, among the Jews for these saints.

[1:17] And many of them said, he hath a devil and is mad. Why hear ye him? Others said, these are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

[1:29] And that ended that particular discussion that was going on at that time. Like I said, that actually began in chapter nine after the healing of the blind man.

[1:42] When Jesus anointed his eyes with the mud that he made out of the spindle and the dirt on the ground and told him to go wash with the pool of Siloam. And he did, he came again seeing, and all that stuff happened.

[1:53] And John nine, for those of you that were here that are familiar with that scripture. And of course, this opened up a debate between the religious rulers and Jesus Christ.

[2:06] And this particular verse, verse 21 in John chapter 10 is what ends that particular discussion. So with all that being said, we'll pick up in verse 22 of John chapter 10.

[2:21] It says, and it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication and it was winter. Verse 23, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. So back to verse 22, and it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication and it was winter.

[2:38] And there's some small debate as far as what this feast of the dedication was that is brought up here. Well, the Holy Spirit doesn't leave anything really to be questioned here because he ends that verse with and it was winter.

[2:56] So some people think that this would be a continued feast of dedication for the temple as far as when Solomon dedicated the temple, which you read about that in first Kings and in the books of Chronicles as well.

[3:15] But if you read that account in first Kings in chapter eight, it gives the month that that dedication took place, which was a harvest time. Well, this verse here says, and it was winter, which is not harvest time.

[3:28] So that blows Solomon's dedication out of the water. Other people will say, well, this must be when Nehemiah had his small ceremony after they come back to Jerusalem after those that were in bondage came back to Jerusalem.

[3:44] And they rebuilt the walls and they set up the temple and such. Well, folks, that happened in the springtime if you read that account.

[3:55] So there's a big difference between springtime and wintertime. This would be the dedication that actually took place in terms of years, in terms of centuries really, much closer to the time that we're at right now.

[4:09] This would have been about 164 or 165 BC, and there's debate as to when that would have happened. This is when Antiochus Epiphanus came in and desecrated the temple with idolatries and Judas, I started to say Jacob, Judas Maccabeus proclaimed a dedication after he purified the temple.

[4:37] And that's what we would be talking about now. This was the dedication feast that we're talking about. It's what's called nowadays Hanukkah. It's the first eight days in December, or eight days consecutively in December, what we call Hanukkah nowadays.

[4:55] That's what they're celebrating here and that's what they're celebrating now. That Hanukkah was the rededication of the temple after it was desecrated by a very evil man named Antiochus.

[5:11] So that's the dedication we're talking about here. This line, and it was winter is very important because that lets us know that. So once again, the Holy Spirit puts things in the scripture for a purpose.

[5:25] Every time we read the word and, every time we read the word thee, every time we read the word A or but, these small words that seem insignificant, every one of them have a purpose in the scriptures.

[5:37] And this line here that we read, and it was winter, wasn't just put there to take up space on the page. It was put there for a purpose to let us know what dedication that we're talking about.

[5:49] So it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. This is something else that's very important that we read here.

[6:01] Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Some people might read that and say, well, big deal. The fact that the Holy Spirit inspired John to write that not only did Jesus walk in the temple but it was, in particular, in Solomon's porch is very significant.

[6:16] We can actually get into more of that towards the end of this chapter. But Solomon's porch was not within the confines of the temple itself.

[6:28] It was actually outside of there. You read in the works of Josephus, he wrote that there was an area outside of the actual temple that was used.

[6:40] It was filled with rocks. Josephus said he filled a valley full of great stones and they built a wall with some of these great stones.

[6:50] And this was called Solomon's porch. And there was a huge portico that was built over top of it. It was a big, enormous, extravagant thing that was built there.

[7:04] But it was outside the temple. Now, what have we just been going over? From John chapter 9 up to this point was this going back and forth between Jesus and these religious rulers.

[7:15] And Jesus making claims off his deity. Jesus making claims that he is Messiah. And then of course saying, no, you're not, you know, prove it to us.

[7:28] And all these other things that are going back and forth here. Jesus has been trying and trying and trying to get these Israelites, to get these Jews to see that he is Messiah.

[7:39] He's going over it and over it and over it with them. And they have rebutted and rebutted and rebutted against Jesus Christ. So here he is not inside the actual temple, but he is just outside of the temple at Solomon's porch.

[7:53] So that's very significant. And I said, well, if we get that far today, we'll see more of that at the end of the chapter. Verse 24, then came the Jews round about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt?

[8:07] If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. So the Jews, and notice this isn't just talking about Jews in general, this would again be the religious rulers, the religious elite of the day.

[8:20] The Jews came around about him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? And folks, the same question comes up now.

[8:31] Maybe not in these exact same words, but people will blame their unbelief on God himself. And that's exactly what these Jews here are doing with Jesus Christ.

[8:44] They say, How long are you going to make us wonder? How long are you going to make us doubt these things? He says, If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. He has told them plainly.

[8:56] Now granted, some of the things that he spoke were in parables. Last week we went through how Jesus Christ is the door. He spoke that in parabolic form.

[9:07] And he went into how he's the door, he's the actual fold, and all these other things. He is the shepherd, he's the good shepherd. He spoke these things. And I understand that John doesn't have parables like the other three Gospels do, like the Synoptic Gospels do, but needless to say, he was informing them of exactly what they're asking him to inform them of here in this verse.

[9:32] But they said, How long are you going to make us doubt? If you're truly the Messiah, if you're truly the Christ, tell us plainly. And he said it several times over who he is.

[9:44] He said, I'm from the Father. He said, The Father sent me. He said all these things, and yet they are still blaming their own unbelief and their own state on him, on Christ, after he has told them all these things.

[10:01] Verse 25, Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. So Jesus says, I've already told you these things.

[10:12] Just what we just went over. Jesus says, I told you, and ye believe me not. But they're trying to pin their unbelief off on Jesus Christ, and therefore they're trying to, indirectly, they're pinning it off on God.

[10:28] It's no different than Adam acted in the garden. When God came to Adam, after he and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, they're in the garden.

[10:39] God came to Adam and said, What have you done? He said, Lord, the woman that Thou gave us me, he's blaming his guilt upon God. These people here are doing the exact same thing.

[10:50] They're blaming their guilt. They're blaming their unbelief on God himself, standing there in the flesh, and Jesus Christ, Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believe not.

[11:00] The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. So we say in everything that I've done, the life that I've lived, the words that you have heard me speak, the deeds that I've done, the miracles that you, some of them you've witnessed yourselves, all of these things, they bear witness of me.

[11:20] But not only do they bear witness of Christ, they bear witness of God because Christ was performing specific miracles that are miracles that were specific to the Messiah.

[11:31] As far as the Old Testament scriptures go, you read about some of those in Isaiah chapter 35. But some of the miracles that he'd done were specific to him.

[11:42] And he says, And you still, you believe not. He says, His works bear witness of him. Verse 26, But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

[11:54] Because ye are not of my sheep. This is why they didn't believe, because they were not sheep. It's not that they were sheep, but they still didn't believe.

[12:06] They did not believe because they were not of Christ's sheep. They were not of His fold. They weren't sons of God like they claimed to be.

[12:17] Remember we read just a chapter or two ago, how they began actually by saying Abraham is our father. Then just a few verses later they were saying, We have one father, even God.

[12:29] They were neither. They were sons of Abraham, yes. But they weren't acting like Abraham did. And Jesus Christ went into that with them and said, Abraham never rejected the things of God.

[12:40] He never rejected the word of God. But here you are doing that and yet you're claiming to be sons of His. And then they go into, you know, we have one father, even God.

[12:50] He says, You're not His father either. He says, You're of your father, the devil. And he's getting at that same thing here when he says, But you believe not because you're not of my sheep.

[13:02] As I said under you, my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. We went over this a little bit last week. My sheep know my voice and I know them and they follow me.

[13:17] They follow him because they know him. They follow him because they recognize his voice. Same reason that born again Christians nowadays follow Jesus Christ.

[13:27] They follow him because they know him. I follow Christ because I know him and he knows me. And I follow him because much like Peter said, he has the words of eternal life.

[13:38] Where else am I to go? Where else can I go? I can go nowhere else. He has the words of eternal life. He has the key of eternal life. He is the way of eternal life because he is eternal life.

[13:51] And I follow him because he knows me and I know him. Verse 28, And I gave unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

[14:03] Praise God, amen. And hallelujah for this verse. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.

[14:16] Eternal life is eternal life folks. Eternal means eternal. Eternal means immortal. Forever means forever. Period. I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.

[14:30] Who shall never perish? The sheep that he just brought up just previous to this. Those that are following him. He gives unto them eternal life. Meaning it's a gift.

[14:41] It's something that he has imparted to us that we did not have before but he has given it to us. This isn't a wage that they have earned folks. The only wage that we have earned is death.

[14:53] For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. The only wage that we have earned ourselves is death. And that is because of sin.

[15:04] But the gift of God. This gift that he is talking about giving them here. He says, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish. This is no different than what I brought up a little while back when on Wednesdays we were going through the sermon on the Mount.

[15:22] And there are some that come and Jesus said there will be some that come to him saying, Lord, we cast out demons in Your name. We've worked many miracles in Your name and He would say, depart from me for I never knew You.

[15:36] Not I knew You once upon a time but I don't know You now. He says, I never knew You. And this is no different here. He says, they shall never perish. A sheep of God cannot perish.

[15:48] We may backslide. We may fail. We may falter. We may fall on our face. We may drag our own names through the mud. We may do all kinds of things. But if we are a sheep of God as per the words of Jesus Christ Himself in this Scripture, we shall never perish.

[16:04] And that gives me great comfort. Gives me great comfort. And if we're a true sheep of God and we are truly following Christ, we will truly repent whenever we sin.

[16:16] We will truly go to God and ask forgiveness of that sin. And why would we think that we can't do that? He forgave us the day that we got saved or the night that we got saved, whenever it was, that He originally regenerated our hearts and made us whole and made us pure.

[16:35] He'd done it then, why would we think that He wouldn't forgive us now? So if we're a true follower of Christ and we're truly following Him because we know Him and He knows us, we will truly go to Him and truly repent of anything that we have done.

[16:52] And God is able and God is willing and God is all-powerful to forgive that sin. And I praise God for all of that. But He goes on in that verse, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

[17:08] So He says, He says, I give to them eternal life and they shall not perish. We can't perish. He says, and no man can pluck them out of my hand.

[17:19] Meaning, it don't matter how hard someone tries to get you, tries to steer you to the left or right off of the straight and narrow way that you are on.

[17:29] No man can pluck you out of the Savior's hand. No one can. He goes on here in just a couple more verses to speak about how no man can pluck them out of the Father's hand.

[17:40] Either my goodness, if they can't pluck us out of the Son's hand, they can't pluck us out of the Father's hand. I am secure, plain and simple. If I got the hand of the Son on the bottom of me and the hand of the Father on top of me, no man can do anything about that.

[17:57] And even more so, no demon can do anything about that. The devil himself can do nothing about that. They cannot pluck me out of the Savior's hand.

[18:08] And I understand there's people that say, well, I know the Bible says no man can pluck you out of the hand of God, but we can remove ourselves out of there if we want to. And people will say, well, it doesn't say the devil can't do that or anything.

[18:20] Show me where it explicitly states that in the Scripture. And I'll preach it, but it doesn't explicitly state that anywhere in the Scripture.

[18:31] What it does explicitly state is that God has given us eternal life. He said not long before this chapter wise, he said, he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.

[18:42] If we believe in the Son, we have everlasting life. And folks, again, everlasting is everlasting. And those that Christ has gifted this gift of eternal life to, they shall never perish.

[18:57] And we cannot be plucked out of the hands of Christ our Savior. And I praise God for these verses. They bring me a great amount of comfort. Verse 29, my Father, which gave them to me, is greater than all.

[19:11] And no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. So he says in the verse previous to this, he is the one gifting eternal life.

[19:22] None of the sheep shall perish. And no one is able to pluck them out of his hand. Then he goes on in this verse and says, my Father, which gave them to me, is greater than all.

[19:32] So I understand Jesus Christ is co-equal with the Father. I understand the Son is co-equal with the Father. The Spirit is co-equal with the Father and the Son.

[19:42] I get all of that. But Jesus is driving home a point here to these people. Why? He's speaking to a bunch of Jews. That's why. And they've got God on a pedestal where he belongs.

[19:54] Don't get me wrong. But they've got God on this pedestal. And Jesus Christ has been telling them, I'm the Son of God. I'm the Son of man. He said all of these things.

[20:05] And saying that he was the Son of man was a title given to the Messiah in the Old Testament. So Jesus Christ is driving home a point to these Jews and saying this, my Father, which gave them to me, is greater than all.

[20:16] And the same thing, the only time that he ever made a statement like this. If you all remember, also in the New Testament, in the Gospels in the New Testament, there was one that come to Jesus asking about how he could inherit eternal life.

[20:28] And he says, good master. And Jesus says, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one. And that is God. So he's driving home a point to these people here. What's the point?

[20:39] He says, no man can pluck them out of my hand, the Son of God. And none of them can pluck them out of the hand of the Father, God himself. My Father, which gave them to me, is greater than all.

[20:51] No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. This is Jesus Christ making another very blatant statement regarding his deity.

[21:03] I and my Father are one. Now the revised version of the English translation of the Bible, this states, I and thee, Father, are one.

[21:16] And that's actually a better translation of this verse. But regardless, it's a claim to his deity. It's a claim not only to his sonship but to his co-equalship with the Father.

[21:30] He says, I and my Father are one. Verse 31, then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Well they just asked a few verses ago.

[21:42] They said, how long are you going to make us doubt? Tell us plainly that you're a Messiah. Tell us plainly that you're Christ. And Christ just told them, I and my Father are one.

[21:54] He's telling them exactly what they wanted to hear and what did they do? They took up stones to stone him. How blasphemous is that? Very much so.

[22:05] How awful is that? How sad is it? Very much so. All this account is sad because again he's doing exactly what they have asked him to do.

[22:17] He's answering their question and he's doing it very plainly for them. When he says, I and my Father are one, you can't get any planer than that.

[22:28] And yet they took up stones to stone him. And this isn't the only time that they've done that in the Gospel of John or in the Gospels in general.

[22:38] But folks, they weren't going to stone him. They weren't going to lay hands on him. They weren't going to drag him off. They weren't going to arrest him until his hour came. Jesus Christ was completely safe. He was in the care of the Father and nothing was going to happen to Jesus before his time came, before his hour came.

[22:58] So the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, many good works have I have I should you from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?

[23:10] The Jews answered him saying, for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy. And because that thou being a man, make us thyself God.

[23:20] So these Jews, even though Christ had very plainly and blatantly explained to them who he was again, this wasn't the only time he'd explained it to them.

[23:33] But they say, you being a man, make yourself God. Folks he never made himself God. He has been God from the get go. He's been God from eternity past.

[23:43] He'll be God in eternity future. And he is God right now in eternity present. He always has been and always will be God.

[23:54] But these people here, they say you being a man, you make yourself God. But back to verse 32, says many good works have I should you from my Father.

[24:04] For which of those works do you stone me? In other words, I've done nothing but good. I've done good works. I've done good deeds. I've preached the word of God to you. I've expounded what some of the scriptures mean.

[24:17] I've explained things to you. I've done this. I've done that. And I wonder once did he do any harm to any of these Jews that were asking him these questions. He says, I've done nothing but good to you.

[24:29] Why do you stone me? And folks, Jesus Christ told us it would be the same way for us. He said, if the world hates you, know that it hated me first. He says, you'll be hated of all men for my name's sake.

[24:41] Folks the world hates us. But again, you all have heard me say it before. It's not because of who we are. It's because of whom we are associated with. We are associated with Jesus Christ.

[24:51] We are associated with the very one that's speaking these words here that spoke these words here that we are reading this morning. We are associated with him. We're a son of the Most High God.

[25:02] Just as he was a son of the Most High God, we are associated with someone that was, was and is completely holy and completely righteous and complete holiness and complete righteousness testifies against a lifestyle and testifies against the mindset of the world.

[25:20] And that's why they hate us. They don't hate us because we carry a Bible. They don't hate us because we might bow our head at lunchtime at work to pray.

[25:31] They don't hate us because of that. They hate us because of the holiness and the righteousness of God. And that righteousness testifies against him. That's why they hate us.

[25:41] The holiness and righteousness of Jesus Christ testified against these Jews that were gathered around him at this time. That's why they hated him. That's why they wanted to stone him.

[25:52] I know they said it was for blasphemy, but folks, this shows their ignorance of the scriptures. They show, they might have thought that they knew the scriptures. Jesus Christ, just a couple of chapters before this, or a few chapters before this, had told some of those religious elite.

[26:08] He said, you search the scriptures thinking in them that you have eternal life, but they are they which testify of me. They thought that they knew the scriptures. They thought that they had a good handle on the scriptures, but Christ here is showing them that indeed they didn't.

[26:23] We'll see that here in just a moment. Many good, again verse 32, many good works have I shoot you for my Father, for which of those do you stone me? The Jews answered him saying, for a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because of thou, being a man, makest thou self God.

[26:37] Verse 34, Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said, you're God's. If he called them God's unto whom the word of God came and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye of him whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world thou blasphemous, because I said I am the Son of God.

[26:57] So Jesus here is using scripture to testify against them. He's using scripture out of Psalm 82 here. Now before we get any further with this, when Jesus says, is it not written in your law, I said you're God's.

[27:13] A lot of folks out there, namely in the charismatic movement, that teach what's known as a little God's doctrine. That anyone that is born again, anyone that's been saved, anyone that's believed in God and confessed their sins and been regenerated, that God has made them into a little God, that we are all little gods.

[27:35] Folks that is far, far, far from the truth. We are not little gods and that is not what the scripture means in Psalm 82. It's not what Jesus Christ is saying here in John chapter 10.

[27:46] But there are people that teach the Bible out there, people that are very well known, people like Creflo Dollar, people like Kenneth Copeland, people like Joyce Meyer and T.D. Jakes.

[27:56] I mean, there's several people out there that have taught this little God's doctrine and say that we are little gods and that is not what this is saying. Which I am not equal in any way, shape, form or fashion to God.

[28:11] And He has not made me any kind of God. I have the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ.

[28:22] And that is the only way that I have it. But that does not make me a God of any kind. So if you hear any of these teachers, I suggest very highly that you turn them off and you don't listen to them at all because folks, if they are teaching that, you don't need to listen to anything they say.

[28:40] I don't care what it is. And there's a lot of people that say, well, you know, not all their stuff is bad. Folks if they teach that doctrine or many other doctrines that they might teach, there ain't no reason to listen to them, period.

[28:54] I've said many times, Joel Osteen says, I believe that Jesus Christ is a son of God. I can't argue against that. But I've heard a lot of other things come out of that man's mouth where I don't want to listen to them because I know that it's blasphemous and I know that it's heretical.

[29:09] And this little God's doctrine is nothing but blatant heresy. It is heresy of the Scripture. So when Jesus Christ says, is it not written in your law?

[29:19] I said, you are God, folks. You and I are not God. Jesus, verse 35 again, if He called them gods unto whom the word of God came in the Scripture, cannot be broken.

[29:30] That's one of the main parts to this. And the Scripture cannot be broken. He is using the Scripture against them because they're accusing Him of blasphemy.

[29:42] One of the gods that He's talking about here and what was being talked about by the Psalmists in Psalms, chapter 82, these were the rulers. These were the magistrates. These were the judges that God had put over His people.

[29:55] And what Jesus Christ here is saying, if you believe that God, the Father, God Almighty, put these people over His people, sanctified them, in other words, as He brings up in the next verse, He sanctified them for His service, for Him, and for His glory.

[30:15] If you believe that He done that for them, why do you not believe that I, the Messiah, can make the same claim? That's exactly what Jesus Christ is getting at in this.

[30:26] It says, if He called them gods unto whom the word of God came and the Scripture cannot be broken, say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world thou blasphemous, because I said, I am the Son of God, He says, the Father sanctified me.

[30:45] And just before this, He said, I am the Father R1. Now, something else I want to get at real quick. Sanification is not regeneration.

[30:58] To be sanctified, to be set apart for a purpose is not to be born again. And this verse proves that because Jesus Christ had no need to be born again, yet He was sanctified.

[31:14] He was set aside for the service of God. He was set aside for a mission from Almighty God to seek and to save those who were lost. So sanctification does not mean regeneration.

[31:29] And I'll reiterate that over and over, because there's a lot of people that mean that to be sanctified means to be cleansed from all sin. No, folks, that's what it means to be regenerated. That's what it means to be born again.

[31:39] That's what it is to become a son or a daughter of God. That's being born again, but not sanctification. Hope's Pharaoh over in the Old Testament was sanctified.

[31:52] He was sanctified for a purpose, but he wasn't born again. He was set aside for a purpose, but he was not a born again believer.

[32:03] He didn't believe the God of the Israelites. He didn't believe the words when Moses would come and say, you know, thus saith the Lord, let my people go, or this is going to happen.

[32:15] That's going to happen. He didn't truly believe those things. He did not believe the word of God, yet he was sanctified for the service of God, but he wasn't a born again believer.

[32:25] So with that out of the way, Jesus Christ here says, say he of him, speaking of himself, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world thou blasphemous, because I said, I'm the son of God.

[32:38] And again, he's saying, if these magistrates, which is exactly what's being talked about in Psalm 82, if they were set over God and they were proclaiming the word of God to the people and they were proclaiming judgments on behalf of God, which is exactly what Jesus Christ was doing.

[32:57] They were proclaiming the word of God to the people, which is just what Jesus Christ was doing. Why could he not make the same claim, him being Messiah, him being the one that God, the Father, sent and sanctified for that particular work?

[33:13] Verse 37, if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not, believe the works that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him.

[33:31] Christ is calling on them here to believe in these two verses. Verse 37 again, if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. In other words, I can claim to be from the Father, I can claim to be one with the Father all day long.

[33:45] But if I'm not doing the works of the Father, you don't need to believe me. But again, just a few verses before this we read where he was saying, I've done nothing but good to you people.

[33:59] Why do you take up stones to stone me? Why do you want to kill me when I've done nothing but good? And again, verse 38, but if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works, believe the works that I'm doing, those works which the Father had given him to do.

[34:20] And he was doing those things. This is no different than when some of the disciples of John the Baptist were sent out to Jesus saying, are you the one or should we look for another?

[34:35] And what did Jesus tell those disciples of John the Baptist to relay back to John? He said, the lame are healed, the blind eyes are open, the deaf are hearing.

[34:47] That's all they needed to know. That's all that John the Baptist needed to know because John the Baptist would have been very familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures that said these are the things that Messiah would be doing when Messiah came.

[34:59] And here was John the Baptist showing a little bit of doubt in his life, saying, are you the one or should we look for another? And Jesus Christ tells those disciples to go back to John and say, you tell John what's going on out here and he can decide for himself.

[35:15] John knew, John the Baptist knew, but he needed that little extra oomph if you want to call it that, from Jesus Christ. But in other words, don't change a thing.

[35:27] Don't even send a direct yes or no answer. You tell them these things. You tell them I'm doing things that Messiah is supposed to be doing. And that was testifying of the works of Jesus Christ, which is what he's talking about here.

[35:41] But if I do, though, you believe not me. Believe the works that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him. So he's calling them to believe.

[35:53] And his testimony that he gave, the testimony that Jesus Christ gave of himself, I and the Father are one. I'm in the Father and the Father is in me. All these things that Jesus Christ has spoke about from John chapter nine up to this point, all the words that he spoke, the works that he was doing was being, or his testimony was being upheld by the works that he was doing.

[36:18] And the works that he was doing was given to him by the God the Father. So God the Father is the very one that was doing the upholding of his testimony.

[36:29] Verse 39, therefore they sought again to take him, but he escaped out of their hands. So they took up stones to stone him. Jesus didn't run. Jesus didn't hide. He didn't escape through a crowd.

[36:40] He didn't go leaping over a cliff into a pond or anything along those lines. He stood there and continued to talk to these people. And it says, therefore they sought again to take him.

[36:52] Why would they have taken him to bring him before the Sanhedrin so that he could be found guilty of blasphemy, be found one that is against the Roman government.

[37:03] They just wanted to bring him before somebody and make him seem guilty. It says, they sought to take him, but he escaped out of their hand.

[37:15] This is some of the saddest parts of this chapter. We'll read through the end of chapter, these last three verses. And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized.

[37:26] And there he abode. Many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spake of this man were true. And many believed on him there.

[37:39] So he went away again and again. Holy Spirit doesn't just tell us beyond Jordan for no reason. Folks, this was the last appearance that Jesus Christ made in Jerusalem before his hour came.

[37:56] He never went back to Jerusalem again as per John's gospel from this point until the time for his crucifixion came. It says he went beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized.

[38:11] And there he abode. Why to the place where John baptized? Why to this place beyond Jordan? This is the place where he had first dedicated himself formally, I should say, dedicated himself to the mission that God had given him.

[38:29] This is where he was baptized at. He was baptized in this place. And it says where John first baptized, and there he abode. He stayed there.

[38:39] He didn't go back to Jerusalem until his hour came. And many resorted unto him and said, John did no miracle. Folks, John the Baptist performed no miracles. We don't see any miracles that he'd done in the scriptures.

[38:54] But all things that John spoke of this man were true. That's the key. And that is the key now. In Romans 10, we read, Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God.

[39:07] John the Baptist spoke of Jesus Christ. He said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And he told them, he said, there's one coming after him because they were asking him if he was Messiah.

[39:21] If he was the prophet. He said, no, he said, there's one coming after me who shooed at you. I'm unworthy to lose. He spoke things of Jesus Christ. He preached Jesus Christ to these people.

[39:33] And he also preached repentance. In fact, John the Baptist preached repentance in Matthew chapter 3 before Jesus Christ did in Matthew chapter 4. John the Baptist preached repentance and he preached Christ.

[39:46] And that is what it took then. And that is what it takes now, 2,000 years later. You preach repentance and you preach Jesus Christ. You preach a gospel without repentance. You have preached a false gospel.

[39:59] There must be repentance in it. But all things that John spoke of this man were true. And many believed on him there.

[40:10] Not a few, not a handful. Many believed on him there. Because of what? Because of what they heard.

[40:21] Because of what they heard, but not only that, because of what they had seen as well. They had seen some of the miracles that Cross had done. And Jesus had just told those religious people, the Jews, He had just told them not to believe on just on him, but to believe upon His works and know that He and the Father are one.

[40:41] So that brings us to the end of that chapter. Anybody got any questions or comments? God bless y'all. I appreciate you.