This message is from the teaching
ministry of James Tippins, pastor of Grace Truth Church. More information
can be found online at Gracetruth.org and AnchoringFaith.org. A people
for His glory, by His grace. During the week, how many times
do we open the Word of God? I mean, how often are we really
in the Scripture? Now, for many of us, it would
depend upon our time, the job that we have, you know, the hours
that we work. But I bet if I asked that same
question about what we saw on television, the movies we watch
or the sports we participated in, either through observation
or practice, maybe if I even ask about the daily maintenance,
the routine of our yard, we could tell you how much time we spent
just this last few days cleaning and mowing and doing. For some
of us, especially us brothers, we could probably tell you how
much labor we've put into the mechanics of our car. Possibly
even the maintenance of our home. The time we've spent doing laundry.
The time we've spent eating out. We can give an account for almost
every jot and tittle of every aspect of what? Every hour of our day. But yet
we get through almost every week and we go, wow, where has the
week gone? Wow, where has the time gone? Where is the day? I don't have enough time. I wish
there were more hours. If we were to sit down truly
and write out the exact schedule of our day and say, I spent this
much time doing this, I spent this much time doing that, we
would realize that not only do we have a lot more time than
we think we do, But we spend more time than we realize we
even have doing things that are not necessarily even important.
We spend more time dealing with the nuances of life in a responsive
way than we do spending time in a powerful way in the Word
of God. And then we wonder, Why do I
feel so behind? What is happening with my spiritual
life? Why do I feel so overwhelmed?
What has become of me that I feel even absent, God is absent in
my life? What's happening? When am I ever
going to get margin? Now the Tony Robbins of the world
and people like him could stand before stages of 50,000 people
and give all this so-called timeless principles of how we as citizens
of this great land, the opportunity that sets before us could have
time and time again great success in every aspect of our lives.
Learn to take control of our mind and think positively. What does that do? It makes you
a schizophrenic. So what it does, things are not
necessarily positive, but yet we're taught to think positively,
and therefore we think positively, much like Descartes, who says,
I think, therefore I am. Maybe we will be positive. We'll be positively insane. And
if we're not in the word of God, we'll be positively, what? Spiritually
bankrupt. And sometimes people would tell
us, well, physically. If you take this pill, if you
eat this food, if you don't eat this food, if you walk this way,
if you drink 6,000 gallons of water in a 24-hour period, you'll
die. But anyway, you know, most people
think you're supposed to have all this type of water. And one thing
after another, everywhere you turn, there's always this advice
of how you can have good mental health, how you can have good...
And it's important. Just like having a good attitude
is important. But it's not the be all and the end all. As a
matter of fact, if I have a disease in my body that's incurable,
no matter how much positive attitude I have, it's not going to make
the disease go better. However, it may make the time
that I have in this world a little bit more pleasant, especially
for those around me. The same thing would be true
in my physical sense. I cannot wish away cancer. I cannot wish
away death. I cannot wish away the aging
process. I cannot run and build my body
to a point where it will never fail because there's going to
come a day where the shoulders are not going to work like they
did yesterday. Or the knees are not going to feel the same way.
Yes, we can stay healthy, but we can only stay as healthy as
the natural order of aging will allow us. What about our relationships? I mean, if you go into any bookstore,
which there are very few left in the world, if you go into
any bookstore, you always see the best sellers are either one
of three things. They're either self-help in some
way, or they're fiction, or they're relationship books. How to be
a better husband. How to have all the ladies. I
mean, you know, and the list goes on and on. How to become
successful in life. How to win friends and influence
people, Dale Carnegie. These same types of books, even
in so-called, quote, Christian bookstores, they are inundating
us every time we turn. Even the news today that's 24
hours and 10 different channels, I have no idea how they pull
that off. Yes, I do. They talk about nothing forever.
And then they aggravate us. But either way, we see constantly
now they're having their little health moment. You know, when
I was growing up as a child, we had Mr. Food. He wasn't trying
to teach us how to be healthy. He was trying to teach us how
to make the food taste good. Ooh, it's so good, or something
like that. I can't remember what his name was. And it's sort of like the Paula
Deen's of the world. You just add a bunch of butter, and if it doesn't like,
add a lot of sugar and it'll be fine. And of course we're
killing ourselves on that aspect, and I'm not saying that we should
throw caution to the wind, and throw good health to the wind,
and throw good communication skills to the wind. But in comparison,
beloved, listen to me. In comparison, how much more
important is it for us to be in the Word of God? I would say
it is extremely important. We build that which we adore. So the idols of our heart are
easily established and distinguished in our lives because of the time
we give them. You say you love your family,
but you spend time doing something else instead of growing them
in grace, you do not love your family. You say you love your
health, but you're packing on in the Dunkin' Donuts every 45
minutes, you do not love your health. You say this, you say
that. In the same way, we say we believe
and trust in the power of God to what? To what? To do everything
that needs to be done for us in life as the church, yet we
spend no time in the Scripture. Now see, I cannot go to the dogmatic
end of some theologians in antiquity and say that, if you're not in
the Bible, you're not in Christ, you know. We're not gonna go
there. However, if you are in Christ,
then you should desire and strive to be in the word of God. Beloved,
we are not in a place in this world where what I teach you
for one hour or one hour, 12 minutes on Sunday is enough for
you. Just like this afternoon, you
will eat something. And I know us busy folks who
sometimes skip meals throughout the week. I skip, how do I skip
so many meals and not 100 pounds? I don't know. But you know, you
skip something because I'll catch them up You know, I'm 1,000 calories
short today. By golly, I'm going to match
it. It's like the telethon on public television. If you give
a $50 today, there's a matching gift, 50-50. So I'll match those
calories that I didn't eat this morning. Why? Because I've probably
got something stupid to do, but it's necessary this afternoon,
like unload dirt, or cut down a tree, or fix a car, or whatever
it might be. We're always busy. But beloved,
you know what the Scripture talks about the Word of God being in
our hearts and in our minds and always before us? You know how
the Jews took that literally and put it in little phylacteries
so they could hang in front of their face and attach to their
heart and they thought it was there, but it was not in their
mind. And today you'll see that Jesus iterates again and establishes
very emphatically and dogmatically and very rudely to some people's
ideals that these Jews do not know Him nor the Father. And
He tells them over in John chapter 5 and John chapter 6 and John
chapter 7 that the Word of God is not in them. Beloved, the
Word of God must be in the people of God. For it is the Word of
God that establishes life through the Spirit. It is the teaching
of Christ. Do you hunger and thirst for
righteousness? Then you will hunger and thirst for the teaching
of Christ. Because above any act of morality, above any action
of your will, above any expression of obedience, the Word of God
is the starting and the ending point of all of your obedience.
The Word of God is the starting and the ending point of all of
your worship. The Word of God is the starting
point and the ending point of everything that you try to do
for the sake of the glory of God. If we do not have the Word
of God in us often, it will not be there with us in practice. But it's there, and when it's
there, it's alive. Consider that as we go through
this text today. Last week we looked at Jesus' second I Am
assertion here in the Gospel of John. First one was in John
chapter 6 where He says, I am the bread of life. Here, I am
the light of the world. He said, whoever follows Me will
not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. We taught
that the following there is believing, that Jesus is not commanding
us to walk, though He does command His church to walk in a manner
worthy of the calling. Faith is the following of Christ.
Believing in the work of Christ. Believing in the gospel. Believing
in the person of Christ. Believing in the promises of
God through Christ Jesus. Where Paul can say, all spiritual
blessings are ours in Christ Jesus in the heavenly realms.
Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world in
love. that we might be, what, holy and blameless before Him.
We are holy and blameless before God the Father because He loved
us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we are His
children, adopted sons and daughters. Why? How can God adopt wicked
people? Because Christ paid the penalty
of our sin. That is the gospel, beloved.
Christ died for His people. He paid for the sins of His people.
How much more in this world is more important than hearing that
love story? How much more important is everything else to forsake? What is so valuable that we would
forsake the Word of God in our lives? Let me ask you this, just
a sense of practical living. Do you keep the Scripture with
you? Do you keep a hardbound copy of the Bible with you? Do
you carry it with you in your purse? Do you carry it with you
in your car? Do you carry it with you when
you go into a restaurant? Make that a habit. Oh, I got
it on my phone, Pastor. No, you don't. Facebook has you
on your phone. Well, crossword puzzles have
you on your phone. Videos have you on your phone. Everything
has you on your phone with the Word of God. I do not use my
phone for anything but connectivity. And with the latest update, it
tells me on average how many, how much minutes I use every
day on the screen time on my phone. That's me looking at it
with the screen on. One hour, 12 minutes a day was
the average of last week. I'd love to see what yours was.
and then turn around and say, screen time, and I'm telling
you now, now some of that, yeah, when I'm driving down the road,
you can't text, you can't watch videos, but you can read the
Bible and have it read to you. The ESV app will read to you
audibly while you're driving down the road. I'm not saying
you read the Bible, though there's no law against having the Bible
in your hand. But even then, so let's just say there was 45
minutes a day of other connectivity, reading emails, reading text
messages, making phone calls, and catching up on whatever type
of social media might pop up on my feed. That's an hour a day. How much
more inside this scripture must I be? I'd say five times. If I'm going to spend an hour
on my phone, I should at least spend two hours, so two times,
in the Bible. If I'm going to watch four hours
of television, should I not in proportion give eight hours of
the Scripture? You see that? And I'm not saying
that that's what you should do. I'm just saying if we put it
in perspective of what's important, we really do not give the Word
of God its place. Why? Because it's not there.
Carry it with you. Read. Listen. Enough of that. Jesus says, I
am the light of the world. Those who follow me will not
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. He's there
in the temple and in the feast of booths. And he makes this
assertion, and the Jews have already come against him in several
ways. They've already said, don't we know who his father is? He
keeps saying, I've come down from heaven. Do we not know who
his father is? Do we not know where he is from?
Is he not from, what, Nazareth? What good comes from Nazareth?
Can you not look and see that there are no prophets from this
region? Can you not look and see that
there are no such prophets from Galilee, the Jews would say?
And they're wrong. There are many prophets from
Galilee. But they knew Jesus in the flesh. They knew the ins
and outs of Jesus' genealogy according to the flesh. They
knew where He lived and where He came from and who His mama
and His surrogate father were. They knew the story of Jesus.
They knew His half-brothers and sisters. They understood what
was really going on. But they didn't know Him. And brothers and sisters, I will
suggest to you that most people in our culture commonly know
Jesus from the context of the flesh. They know the story of
Jesus in the manger. They know the story of Jesus
in the cross. They know the story of Jesus in the fishes and the
loaves. They know the story of Jesus of the walking on the water.
They know the story of Jesus. They know the narrative in some
sense of Jesus, but they don't know the teaching that Jesus
gave in those circumstances. And so they say, well, I know
Jesus. No, they don't know Jesus. And because they don't know Jesus,
they don't know the Father. And because they don't know the
Father, they do not have eternal life. Beloved, you want to know
someone is truly unsaved? Ask them to give a confession
of who Christ is and what the gospel is. When they articulate
some man-centered mess, when they articulate some free will
regenerative issue, when they articulate some baptismal regeneration,
they're lost. and we should evangelize them,
not pat them on the back and go, wow, this person's lost.
Hey, brother. Hey, sister. Why would we do
that? Because in our world, we have
come to a place of just exercising no discernment when it comes
to what people say they believe. And if we care about them, if
we are truly the saints of Christ, if we are truly the body of Christ,
and we have been given that mandate, and let me use the word, the
command to go and make disciples by teaching them what Jesus has
taught, not telling them a story of how they can come to faith
through some physical means of their flesh. That is not the
gospel. That is a death sentence, it
is condemnation, and the wrath of God remains on all those who
trust in themselves. And the Jews could not see it.
Jesus beheld Himself to them for years. He proved miracle
after miracle that He was from God. Their own confession in
John chapter 3 with the Pharisees. We know that you are from God. Think about that. We know that
you are from God. Listen to the spiritual leaders
of that day. We know you are from God. We
see the power in your life. You see? Does that sound familiar? We know you are in Christ because
we see the fruit of Christ in how you look at things and how
you speak. Great! May the people of this
world and may each other see the mind of Christ in each of
us. May we have the words of Christ
come from our mouths, as James would teach, who contain the
tongue. May we have the love of Christ, as Paul would say,
I love you Thessalonians with all the affection of Christ.
May we have that. May we have the diligence and
the discipline of Christ. Friends, even if we have that
this moment, it is not perfect, it is not lasting, and it is
not righteous. But by the Lord's grace, we are
the righteousness of God because Christ obeyed completely on our
behalf. And may we have those things.
But may we never guard, regard someone in the flesh because
of some of the things that they do and say as brother and sister. How many funerals have you sat
in with a very loving person who have passed away and have
that preacher stand up there and preach them into heaven and
give a list of reasons he knows why? For 36 years, Sister So-and-so
taught Sunday school. Could have been a Mormon church.
Nobody even says what in them. Could have been a Baptist church,
even worse. For 12 years, she's made dishes
for the homeless. For 99 years, she made scarves
for the cold. Praise God! And when she stands before the
Lord of Heaven, none of that matters for anything. God's not going to give one head
turn. You know, like a dog, when you
talk to a dog and say, huh? God's not even going to cock His head
sideways and go, you did pretty good. He just said, depart from
Me, you worker of iniquity. I fed the hungry. I clothed the
naked. I visited the sick. I prayed
and gave to the poor. I served and I taught the Bible.
Depart from Me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you." You see the difference? But that same person with those
same actions, who has trusted in Christ alone for their salvation,
well done, my good and faithful servant. Not because of what
you've accomplished in this life, but because you have been made
alive through the grace that I gave. You've believed in the
Son. And it is not the praise and
the glory of the believer that's on show here, is it? It is to
the praise and the glorious grace of God our Father. It is to the
praise and the glorious grace of God. That is the outcome. That is the reason God saved
anybody. That he might be worshipped and
given glory and honor for His grace. These Jews, they come
back to the claim of Jesus. I am the light of the world. Two things irritated them about
that. The first thing that irritated
them about that is that, well, there are many things. Let's
just walk through some of them. I might not have a number on them now
that I think about it. That He disrupted their sacred worship. Jesus disrupted their sacred
worship through the assertion that He was the light of the
world during a moment in the Feast of Tabernacles where they
lit the torches to light up as a remembrance of the presence
of God in His provision in the wilderness at night. So Jesus
stills the thunder of that religion, of that religiosity, of that
practice, and He says, I'm the light. You all are thinking that
Israel is the light, that God has shone His light on and through
us, but I am the light of the world. That aggravated them because
not only did it disrupt their worship, it petitioned against
their understanding of their place before God. You know what
that means? They felt confident in who they
were, that God was pleased with them because of who they were
and what they did. Jesus is saying, you're not the
light, I'm the light. So he stole the attitude of the
Jews away from their self-focus and he announced himself as the
point of their even worship. Of even their worship. I have
verbal dyslexia sometimes. And another thing that happened
is that it offended them that this man is continuing to cause
trouble and to steal away their glory as spiritual leaders. Not just from the nation as a
whole, but as spiritual leaders. Here's this Jesus from Nazareth,
whose Father we know, who claims He's from God, who says that
He's the Bread of Life from six months before, and now He's saying He's the
Light of the World. And these people are starting to listen
to Him and believe in Him and ask about Him and consider Him
and they're losing their focus. They need to be looking at us.
They need to be listening to us. They need to be following
us. You see that. Many other things offended them. But in doing so, by Jesus saying
that He is the light of the world and anyone who comes and believes
in Him does not walk in darkness, the antithesis of that, the opposite
of that, by saying that in the positive or in the negative,
that they do not walk in darkness, those who follow after Him. Because
the Jews would not follow after Jesus, He's saying to them, you
walk in darkness. You walk in darkness. May we
ever and forever be ridiculed because of what we teach doctrinally
rather than how we say it in the flesh. Friends, we don't
need to get aggravated, irritated, mad. We don't need to get offended. We don't need to have fear. We
don't need to think that we're the Savior or we're the Holy
Spirit that can convince people. When we come to the place of
just teaching plainly the truth of Christ, we don't need to add
all the, and this guy's wrong, and this is not right, and this
is it. This is not the evangel in our
world. Yes. If I see you sitting there
reading a book, I'm going to tell you that's wrong. If you
come up to me and want to share something you saw on a particular
television show that's wrong, I'm going to tell you that's
wrong. But the campaign of the church is not to be a negative
polemicist to fight against the wrong. We are to be positively,
doctrinally teaching the truth. And when we do that, the world
will hate us because if I tell you that the only color you should
wear in September is chartreuse, Then everybody who doesn't wear
chartreuse is thinking, he's saying my clothes are ugly. You
see, I don't have to say, y'all's clothes are ugly. When Jesus
says He's the light of the world, by the very dogma, He is saying,
and y'all aren't. And they heard it. You're not
the light of the world, I'm the light of the world. And you're
not leading anyone to the Father. I'm the only way to lead anyone
to the Father. You aren't having life. You don't bring life to
the people through your teaching and preaching and prayers and
religion. You're condemning people. You're shutting them out of the
Kingdom of God. That's what Jesus tells the Jews. And you carry and you put burdens
on them that are undue and unable for them to bear. What is that? More and more law. More and more
prohibitions. More and more regulations. More
and more don't-do's. More and more do-do's. I said
it. And the Pharisees answer, they
answer Jesus, I'm the light of the world. Whoever follows me
will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. You are bearing witness about
yourself. Your testimony is not true. You're speaking on your own behalf.
You're a liar. That's what they were saying.
You're a liar. You speak on your own behalf.
Ha! Got him. Got him. He's a liar, y'all. He's a liar. And they did this
so everyone would hear them. So that they would come back
with this, I don't know, sarcastic way of dealing with Jesus' teachings.
The only thing they knew to do was just to be snippy. Much like
people that I know today. Jesus answered them, even if
I do, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is
true. For I know where I came from
and I know where I'm going, but you do not know where I come
from or where I'm going. See, Jesus makes bold claims
with authority because of where He is from and because of where
He is going. Jesus has the authority to make
the claims and He's the bread of life. He is the light of the
world because of where He is from and because of where He
is going. In John 5, verse 31, if you remember
there, they fussed about this the same way. How do you make
testimony on your own behalf? He says that. If I alone bear
witness about myself, my testimony is not true. Some people say,
see, Jesus is so contradictory. Would He get His story straight? No, He's just saying, you're
law, and He explains it here in John 8. The law says that
I cannot testify by myself. But now He says I can testify
by myself, but He says why? Because I still have a witness.
I've already told you I have a witness. Remember what He says
in John 5? The Father is my witness. The Spirit is my witness. The
Word is my witness. Moses is my witness. He even
says to them, I will not bring, I will not indict you before
the Father. I will not bring charges against you for unbelief
before the Father. Moses will, for he wrote of me.
Moses wrote of Jesus when he told the story of the pillar
of fire and the pillar of smoke. Moses wrote of Jesus in Deuteronomy
when he showed the serpent on the pole. Moses wrote of Jesus
when he came down from Mount Sinai with the law. Moses wrote
of Jesus when he told the story of the
bush on fire. Moses wrote of Jesus. How is this authoritative? Isn't
Jesus sort of circular in His reasoning? What's happening here?
No, He's not. He's emphatic in particular.
He expresses Himself with authority because He has authority. He
is saying here that He is from God. But guess what? The Jews
have already confessed that they know He's from God. Now all of
a sudden what? Yeah, maybe not. You know what a confession on
one end that changes over here on the other? You know what it's
called now? A lie. You know what it is in the context
of redemption? Unbelief. To say, God called me to do X. Well, I'm not going to do X.
You're a liar. The Bible says, and I believe
in this, Well, I don't really believe in that. You're a liar.
That's what we are. We're liars. We're not supposed to be tossed
to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Believing this over here today,
believing this over here today, and then the Google theologians
over here today. Everywhere we turn, something
else happening, something else going on, another circumstance,
another feeling. I talked about that about three
or four Sundays ago. We don't trust our feelings, we don't
trust our heart. We trust the truth of Christ, who is the Word
of God. And when it matches, we say, hallelujah, my thoughts
and my confession, my desires, my interests, my passions, they're
congruent with God, therefore they are good. And when they're
not, we don't make justification for those discrepancies, we throw
them away. Jesus is from God, but now it
doesn't matter to the Jews that He's from God. They don't care
because of all these other things. You know, much like in 2001,
I said this, that if Jesus were to walk into the back of a church
building, to our church building at the time, a lot of people
there, big, big building, and peek his head out of the baptistery
and say, yo, after church, I'm going to be over here in this
dressing room and I'll stay as long as people want to talk.
I said, Jesus wouldn't have a very large crowd to talk to, because
most of us are more concerned, and I used a list of things that
were on my mind at the time, roast in the oven, the plans
we've got at the park, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,
to be with Jesus than being with Jesus. It's just, oh, Jesus will
be there when I need him kind of attitude. Somebody after service came up
and rebuked me and said, that's a little unfair. And I said,
well, how much are you in the Word? What have you been studying
this week? Well, I ain't had time all week. I said, see, I
proved my point. Because Christ is with us here,
church, in the Scriptures. He's beckoning His people. When
we get to John 10, this is going to come alive for you. I'm just
planting little seeds here. When we get to John 10 in a couple
of years, it's going to be good. It's going to be good for you."
You go, like, wow, I remember that, back when I was, you know, in
my younger age. Here, it doesn't matter to the
Jews that he's from God, because all these other things took power
over this reality. They knew that he was from God.
They had already confessed it. It didn't matter to them anymore.
Jesus' remarks then to them are a rebuke. They are a rebuke to
the Jews, and they're doctrinal. They teach them something. He
is saying, let me paraphrase, you are ignorant. Have you ever
caught anybody ignorant and they get mad? And you're talking about
neurosurgery. You know they don't know a thing
about it. You go, you're ignorant of neurosurgery. So am I. Don't you call me ignorant. Okay, you don't know anything
about neurosurgery. There, that's better. That's
what the word means. You don't know anything about
that. You have no point of reference. You have no knowledge of that.
They are ignorant of Jesus. Jesus says that. You do not know
where I am from and you do not know where I'm going. You do
not know Me. So how is it that you dare make
testimony about Me? You are ignorant of Me." So he
rebukes them. And then by doing so, because
of what he said, and the reason that they're listening to this,
because of what they said according to what he said, I am the light
of the world, whoever follows me, what? Will not walk in darkness,
but have the light of life. Then he says, and you are ignorant
of me. He says that in rebuke. Doctrinally,
he's saying you are dead in your sins. You're dead in your sins. You're
lost. You walk in darkness, Israel. You walk in darkness, scribes.
You walk in darkness, Pharisees. This isn't what we learn. This
isn't about learning all the cool stuff about what Scripture
says about Jesus. This is about knowing Christ,
which is eternal life, John 17, 3. Year 26, or whenever we get
there. You are dead in your sins, you're
walking in darkness, and they understood it. They understood
it very clearly. They saw what Jesus was saying
to them. And more importantly, to walk
in darkness, and to be dead in your sins, to not have the light
of life, Jesus is saying, you are evil, and your deeds are
evil, and your works are evil. Same thing. Now does that seem like the status
quo of the loving Christian response that the culture so promptly
commands of us? Well, that's just unloving. That's
just mean. I guess if we stomp our feet
and sling slobber everywhere because we're just so irate in
our conversation, I guess it would be a little grossly unnerving,
a little rude. But it's not mean to sell someone
if you are not trusting in Christ alone. You are in darkness, and
you are dead, and you cannot live. and the wrath of God remains. It's not wrong to agree with
God's Word. It's not wrong to expressly commentate,
or not commentate, but it's okay to. That's what preaching is,
by the way. It's not wrong to relate the truth of God's Word
to each other and to the world. What is the first thing that
we hear? You're just judgmental. Don't judge me. I saw a shirt
the other day in the mall in Savannah. Only God can judge
me. And I wanted to walk up to that
guy and go, that is the best shirt I've ever seen in my life.
Because it's exactly true. It's perfect. You have said perfectly
the biggest truth I've seen in the mall today. All those sales,
lies, and ain't no sale. Food court, healthy fresh food,
liars. I mean, you know. Come to the
mall, you'll have fun, that's a lie. You got to get to the mall, you
got to get out of the parking lot, that's not fun. Only God can judge me. That's
exactly right. And God's Word says you are condemned
if you do not have the light of life. So I'm not judging you when I
say that. I'm telling you what God has already said in His judgment. This is not wrong. Now, where's that? What are you
talking about? That's where Jesus goes with this. Jesus is saying, because I know
me, I know myself, and you do not know me, your ignorance and
your suspicion and your refusal of my testimony has no bearing
on it. Would you think about that for
a second? Doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter what
you think Jesus is saying. It doesn't matter who you are
or how long you've been reading the Bible. It doesn't matter
the authority that you think you have. You do not know who
I am. Therefore, you do not have life. You have not been born anew.
You do not have the Spirit. You are devoid of life. You are
under the judgment of God. Therefore, your testimony about
my testimony is irrelevant. Brothers and sisters, we can
take a big cue from Jesus in this teaching. This is probably
one of the most practical pieces of text I've seen in a while
for this century. Let it go. Let people be wrong and stupid
and ignorant just like we are and have been at times. and recognize that unless the
truth of the gospel by the power of God comes to them and brings
them alive, that nothing we do to illustrate our arguments will
cause them to agree with Christ. It didn't matter what the Pharisees
said about Jesus. He was going to shave His sheep.
The Father was going to give Him the people for whom He died. The Word of God, as the Holy
Spirit wished, would bring alive those who would believe. and
nothing would stop it. No matter what the Jews said,
no matter how much they campaigned against Him, no matter that they
hung Him on the cross and killed Him, nothing can stop the Word
of God. The more persecution that comes
to the true church of God, the more evangelism takes place,
the more sincerity of truth and the explicit gospel that becomes
clearer and clearer and clearer. I'm trying to get my grammar
right, y'all. More clearer. You see the point? Nothing will stop Christ. The enemy of the gospel today
is not, listen to me, the cults. The enemy of the gospel today
is not nationalism. The enemy of the gospel today
is not social justice. The enemy of the gospel today
is not even false teachers. The enemy of the gospel today
are not wolves. The enemy of the gospel today
is not a conditioned gospel. The enemy of the gospel today
You ready? It's not teaching it. And even that, listen to me,
and the sovereignty of God will not stop it. Because God will
send His sheep into the darkness and the darkness will not overcome
the light. I want you to keep this. I know it's been 66 weeks,
but I want you to keep these types of things in the forefront
of your mind from the prologue of John. The darkness, the light
has come into the world and the darkness will not overcome it. These Jews, though they had the
ear of all the people, though everyone adored them, it didn't
matter, because when God the Holy Spirit spoke through the
words of Christ into the hearts of men, nothing could stop it. You want
to see your children safe? Have them in the teaching of
the Scripture. Have them in the assembly of the saints. Read the Bible to your kids.
You don't have to teach them theology classes. Read the Bible
to your kids. Let them see repentance and forgiveness
and forbearing in your life. And teach them the gospel of
Christ. Every time they get in trouble, teach them the gospel.
Every time you have to punish them, teach them the gospel.
Every time you have to ask for forgiveness because you sinned
in your anger, teach them the gospel. You know, Daddy sinned
when he yelled, when he got loud, when he gritted his teeth at
you, made you cry. What's wrong with you? You ever say that to
your children? They don't know. And they tell you, I don't know.
Are you brain dead? No, we don't say that, but you
know. Southerners do. And then we go back and we say,
I need you to forgive me for sinning against you. It's okay
that it's not okay. I deserve the judgment of God
because I sinned to my anger. And the only hope I have to escape
it is that Jesus paid for my sin on the cross. Dude, there is an intimacy that
happens with children. It doesn't come except through that. If
you're frustrated with your kids, just parent them in Christ. And
I say that as a father who has done it all wrong. So the grandkids,
I might have it right. I think every parent feels that
way. And then our kids tell us that we're wrong as grandparents.
That's how it's going to be. I see it. Friends are having
grandkids and I'm like, it's okay. Jesus rebukes them and then gives
them some things to think about because He says, I know me, you
do not know me. Your ignorance and your apprehension
and your rebuke does not have a bearing on my testimony. I
used to say as a kid that the truth is the truth no matter
what you think the truth is. Our variation of the truth has
no bearing on the truth. I can believe anything I want
to believe. I can believe in myself in any possible manner
known to humanity. It will not change the absolute
truth of the place that is true. Nothing changes the truth. If
it can be changed, it was not truth. That's why, as a side
note, I believe that God's immutability is something that we need to
all understand. And His impassibility is something
we need to all apprehend. Jesus says, your authority doesn't
matter, Pharisees. Your authority does not matter
because I know what I'm talking about, because I know who I am,
and I know from where I come. I don't care what you think,
and I'm not going to answer your responses. except to assert that
I am the light of the world." There's your apologetic against
the culture that we live in today. Assert that Christ is the light
of the world. Assert and proclaim that Christ
is the light of the world. Stay out of arguments over words,
and arguments over positions, and arguments over things. Work
these things out among brethren. Wonderful. When we fight against
unbelievers, in front of unbelievers, it is as evil as unbelief itself. Your position doesn't matter,
Jesus says. Your authority doesn't matter.
Your training doesn't matter. Your traditions do not matter.
Your heritage does not matter. I am the light of the world. And you can believe it and have
life, or you cannot believe it and remain in judgment. This
is the same thing He's been saying. In verse 15, Jesus continues, "...you
judge," He says, "...you judge according to the flesh." In other
words, you judge Me according to what you see and understand
in your mind. You judge Me according to the limited knowledge of the
world that you have, which is far great in the eyes of the
world, but it's worthless in My eyes. And we know what that
looks like with Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, where
Paul says it doesn't matter about the wisdom of this age. Where
is it? It's nothing. God uses the nothings of the
world to bring to nothing the things that are, the weak and
the lowly and the stupid and the unwise. For Christ, verse
31, is our righteousness and our sanctification and our wisdom.
Christ. You judge according to the flesh.
And then Jesus says, I judge no one. And in John chapter 5
he says he was going to judge, right? The Son of Man comes,
all who are in the grave will hear His voice and will come
out, some to everlasting life, some to everlasting judgment.
In Matthew 25, I will separate the sheep from the goats. And I will cast those goats,
I can't remember if it's the left, into everlasting judgment. while those on my right, the
sheep, to everlasting life." Why do we have to get so negative,
people say? It's not negative. Is it negative
to know that you're guilty and that you deserve judgment, but
that God has stayed that judgment and better paid that judgment
through the body of Christ? Is that negative? That's called
good news. That's the gospel. That's not
bad news, that's not frustration, that's not fake news, that's
good news. You judge according to flesh,
I judge no one, yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true. For it is not I alone who judge,
but I am the Father who sent me. So the judgment you make,
Jesus is saying, the judgment that people make in their flesh
is one done with what? Ignorance. done in ignorance. It's much like a restaurant recommendation. You see that on social media.
Look for recommendations. I'm in Timbuktu, Arkansas, and
I need somewhere to eat. And you get 200 people that say,
this is a great place, and you get 200 people that say, that's
a terrible place. And you make a decision based on which 200
people you want to listen to. What makes it a great place?
The bathrooms are clean, you know. Well, awesome. The food's
terrible, but it's always clean. Well, I'm not asking for a recommendation
for a restaurant. I think the taste and the quality
of the food is probably my number one priority. Don't tell me it's
a good place just because it's clean. I've eaten in dives before
that I just closed my eyes. I didn't go back, but I tried
it. Two hundred people say it's not.
Well, I'm just not going to believe that because so many people say
that it's not true. Or I am going to believe that because so many
people say it's true. It doesn't matter. That's stupid judgment. That's actually being a slave
to another man's ideals. That's actually not even thinking
for yourself. That's not even wise. That's
actually irrational. I'm going to believe what you're
telling me pastor because you said it. That's dangerous. Well, there's
a pastor I've known for ten years and he's real smart on the internet.
And I've been watching him and he knows what he's talking about.
He does not! You know the men that are the
most ignorant in the world? The ones that publish the most books. I'm not kidding. The more prolific a man is in
the context of publishing in this current era, the more ignorant
he is of most things. He's smart at a few things, but
then he starts to take that really good, really good things that
he knows and he writes about them and then he extrapolates
that and presses it. It's like trying to take a peanut
butter and jelly sandwich and pull off one side of the bread
and make a whole other sandwich off of what you peel off the
top of that. And mash it together and take the one piece of bread
and then You see what I'm saying? After a while, it just smells
like jelly, got a little peanut butter smell to it. It's just
bread. And they act like they know everything,
and they know nothing about anything. And as a matter of fact, what
they really know, they're not even teaching, but they think
they're an expert in everything. Beware the prolific who come
outside the Scripture. and use the narrative of their
own philosophy and the logic of their own wisdom to expand
the gospel of grace into places that man might find it more palatable.
Man does not find palatable the truth of Christ in any particular
means. There is no person that has ever
lived in this world until they are born by the will of God through
the Spirit that has ever had a true desire at all to understand
and seek Christ. And there is no man, woman, child,
beast, or whatever we want to call ourselves that can know
anything of Christ until Christ permits them to know. And the
way Christ does that is through the teaching of what Christ has
taught. Not through James. Not through John. Through Jesus. And John the Apostle,
as he taught Jesus. The judgment you make, Jesus
says, are in ignorance. You do not like my claims to
be the light of the world, yet you don't have the knowledge
of me. How do you know I'm not the light of the world? Because
you don't like me as the light of the world. How dare you say
I'm not the light of the world and accuse me and make judgment
upon me. You don't know me, so you cannot say yes or no either
way, but yet you do. You say no. It doesn't matter
what you say. This is Jesus in this paraphrase
here. You judge an error and you make
claim to know the truth of who I am. However, I know the truth
of who I am and I'm not judging. Jesus would assert in His earthly
ministry, I came to seek and save the lost. He says to Nicodemus
that God loved the world in this way, that He gave His only Son,
the only one He had. Whoever is believing in Him has
eternal life, but whoever is not believing in Him does not
have life. For God did not send His only
Son into the world that it might be condemned, but that through
Him He might save it. But those that are not believing,
what does he say, are condemned already. See, Jesus isn't making
judgment in this trip. He's saving the lost. Jesus didn't
come to judge the Pharisees. They were judged already. And
He will come and execute that judgment on all unbelief at His
return. I came to seek and save the lost.
And even in your unbelief and ignorance, I'm not going to judge
you, Jesus could say, but I will." If they remember what He taught
them in John chapter 5. When I do judge, and even if
I did judge, it would be true judgment. He's not saying it
would be truthful. He said it would be the true
judgment. It would be the most right thing that's ever taken
place. It'll be that which carries out the weight of righteousness
and justice. So that every execution of judgment
that I make, every discernment that I make, is always right
with no room for error. There's no smoking gun that we
did not see. There is no lack of evidence
that does not stand before me. I know all things about who I
am, Jesus says. And in John 2 and other places,
what do we already know about what Jesus knows about all men?
Everything. No matter how we judge the outward
appearance. the proficiency or the number
of contributions to Christianity. Christ knows all. He knows who
are His and who are not His. He knows the truth and He judges
rightly and judges true. So, Jesus can say, I'm able to
proclaim consistently and congruently with God the Father. So, Pharisees,
Jews, you judge based on your weak and ignorant flesh and your
blindness according to its own desires, but I judge and proclaim
my judgment based on the knowledge of God who I am and from the
Father from whom I come. And in some sense and in all
senses, actually, who is with me now in this judgment. I am
the light of the world and I say this on the account of I know
myself and the Father has sent me and He testifies also that
I am the light of the world. So therefore, my judgment is
true. You cannot judge me any differently
than I have professed because my claim is congruent with God
the Father's witness of me. That even sounds circular, doesn't
it? It would be if He were just a
mere Earth-born human with a sinful nature. But He's God. Now I find a place of application
on this in many ways personally, but practically in the world.
How do you live this out? What does it do for you? Friends,
when people don't believe the gospel you hold to, there's nothing
you can do about it. I've said it already, proclaim
the truth of Christ, Christ will give belief. That's why it's
so easy in our world today and for the last few hundred years
for people to come to a place, even the last thousands, even
in the times of Jesus and the Apostles, but it's very easy
for man, humanity, to find a way to express the work of God in
their flesh. I want to see it manifested in
some way. We want to try to find some anchor
that we can hold our hat on that's not invisible. I want to put
faith in something tangible. I want to say that I believe
fully in the work of Christ, but I want to know that I know
that I know because I've done something to express it. I've
come down the aisle. I'm doing good. I'm on the mission
field. I've got good fruit. Where's
the list of that, by the way? Where is it in the Bible? Nowhere. Find a list of fruit, of evidences. Not by that name. You have affection? Great. You should. So did Bart Ehrman for a long
time. Verse 17, Jesus goes on about
this judgment. He makes bold claims with authority
because His testimony agrees with the Father's testimony.
In your law it is written that the testimony of two people is
true. I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the
Father who sent me bears witness about me. So here we have something
happening that's a little odd. In our day, we don't understand
about witness and testimony. Because a testimony of two witnesses
here in our world is given to a jury and sits before an educator
who, what, makes judgment based on what he or she hears and then
collectively come to the same decision of guilty or not guilty
or hung jury or whatever based on the testimony of witnesses.
But in this day, in the day of Israel, if two people confessed
as witnesses, there was no trial. Judgment was rendered. You want
to see it practiced in the New Testament? Acts chapter 7. Two people came and said, we
heard Stephen blaspheme. They stoned him on the spot.
If two people make testimony of something, the judgment is
rendered. If you make a false judgment, the judgment is immediately
rendered upon you. And it was always death. They
didn't whip people in Israel. Talk back to your parents? They
stoned you. Stole your neighbor's chicken
and couldn't pay him back? They stoned you. And your rotting corpse laid
outside the camp under a pile of rocks while your body decayed
for months. so people could be reminded of
what happens when you lie, you commit adultery, you steal, or
you blaspheme, or you disobey your parents. Praise God for the grace that
is found in Christ Jesus. Because the stoning before a
judge in this earth is no judgment at all. but standing before the
God of all holiness, the God of all creation, and not being
found righteous and perfect before Him is worse than stoning. It
is a forever rendering of justice under which we will never stand.
The grace and the mercy of God through the finished work of
Christ is that we stand righteous before God. We stand perfect
before Him. And no matter the witness Listen
to this. No matter the witness that may come against us, Christ
is a witness for us. The accuser of the brethren,
the world, false believers, the false church, all the haters,
corrupt governments. You look at it through history.
As Stephen was stoned, Jesus stood for him. as they were smashing His head.
He says, Behold, I see the Son of Man standing at the right
side of the Father. And they covered their ears and
screamed loudly and killed Him before He could say another word. Jesus is saying, Your law applies
to Me in this? I can't speak on my own behalf?
Great. Then it will also apply to the Father who speaks on my
behalf. My Father speaks. I don't have to present my own
witness, but I could, but I don't. The Father's witness for me as
the light of the world is sufficient. But you don't know me, He'll
go on to say. But the Father bears witness
of me, and you don't know Him, He'll go on to say. But the Father
and I both agree, so that what I say is true, despite your indifference
toward me." But then they say to him, where is your Father? He's already said who His Father
is. He's already said His origins. He's already said, I come from
heaven, from God the Father. And they're looking around mockingly
going, where's your daddy? He's not here. He's not here. They mock Jesus
in that. And Jesus answered, you know
neither Me nor My Father. And if you knew Me, you would
know My Father also. Now why did this enrage them? If they didn't think that He
was from God, why would it enrage them? Oh, where's your daddy? You don't know my daddy." And
they infuriated him. Because they knew that he said
that his father was God. You see what unbelief is? Unbelief
is refusing to believe what is actually obvious. Unbelief is an obstinate rebellion
of reality against reality. Unbelief is saying there is no
God and Jesus is not the Son of God when you know good and
well that it is. And that is why there is so much
zeal in the world of unbelief and evangelical cults across
this country and across this world who fight passionately
against the gospel and the gospel of grace and the Lord Jesus Christ
and His finished Word because they know better but they will
never admit it. It's called obstinance. And Jesus goes further to say
they can never change. They can't change. Nothing can change them. Only
my Father can give them to me. This response of the Jews reveals
the depths of the darkness in which they walked. They are not
spiritually discerned and they reject the Father's testimony
in their question, where is your Father? So Jesus then claims
that they do not know Him nor the Father. Because to know Jesus
is to know the Father, for they are one indeed, God. So then Jesus, by His own testimony
and the testimony of God the Father, is the light of the world.
And no one comes to the Father except through Him. No one has
eternal life who has not been given to the Son by the Father.
No one has salvation apart from the Word of God, which is the
teaching of Christ. No one can see the truth except
they are enabled to hear through regeneration by the Spirit. No
one can have life except they know Jesus through His Word. So if Jesus spoke alone, it would
be enough. And if the Father spoke alone,
it would be enough. But because their testimony agrees,
it is even stronger. Paul alludes to Moses in 2 Corinthians
3. I don't have time to go there. In verse 18 he says, And we all,
with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. We behold
with unveiled face the glory of God. John has said that already
in chapter 1. And we see Him, and from His
fullness, we see the fullness of the glory of God. We have
seen His glory, glory of the only Son from the Father, full
of grace and truth. And from His fullness, we all
receive grace upon grace. We see. And because we see, we do not
walk in darkness. And that means that we can see
and believe the Scripture. We can understand and apply the
Scripture. We can boldly proclaim the truth
of Scripture. We can rest in the promises of
God found in Scripture. We can see our sin because of
the law written in Scripture. We can know our redemption and
the hope of our glory because of the narrative of Scripture.
We will not be derailed by the unbelief of the world. We will
not be derailed because of so many who hate Christ We will
not be derailed, but we can rest assured that God will call His
people out of unbelief. We can rest assured that in the
reality of this world, that Jesus is who He says He is because
He has revealed it to us. We can prayerfully know that
even though so many refuse the truth of Christ, that God is
sovereign and He is mighty to save. And I will close with this,
that we will not be lost, we will not be shaken, we will not
be condemned because Jesus Christ is the Lord of righteousness,
He is the Lord of life, He is the light of the world, and in
Him alone we rest. Let's pray. We thank You, Father, for just
the truth of this Word bringing us to the place where we know how we are certain of our hope. Lord, I pray for many who are
even part of our fellowship who struggle in the faith so horribly.
It seems that every day it's more and more difficult to maintain
focus and to maintain sincerity. But Father, our hope is not in
our focus. It's not in our discipline. It's
not in our sincerity. It's not in our ability. Our
hope is not in what we can do, but our hope is in what Christ
has accomplished on the cross. And our hope is in that He's
alive today, Father. Bring this to us ever so powerfully,
this moment, that we may rest in it today, that nothing will
shake us and cause us to fall into a pit of despair, but that
we are sure and assured of the finished work of Christ on our
behalf. Lord, help us to turn a blind ear to those who continually
try to corrupt us before others, to corrupt the gospel, to fight
with us, to embitter us, that we may weep and mourn on their
behalf and pray that you would lead them out of unbelief and
that by your mercy and grace that you would bring them to
yourself. Father, we pray for our children. We pray for those
in this congregation, Lord, who are suffering. those who are
sick, those who are hopeless. Father, pray for those who are
spiritually downtrodden. Lord, I thank you for sustaining
us. And I pray these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Thank you, church. Thank you for listening. We hope
that this message has encouraged you in the faith. Subscribe to
these messages and other teaching resources and podcasts at anchoringfaith.org. More information about the church
can be found at gracetruth.org.