WEBVTT 00:00:19.679 --> 00:00:21.120 Let me add my welcome to Duncan's. 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:21.679 My name's Mark. 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:23.199 I'm one of the leaders here at the church. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.359 Please open up John 7 if or look it up on your phone. 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:31.280 If you need a hard copy uh of a Bible, you can grab one from the from the front. 00:00:31.359 --> 00:00:32.159 That's fine. 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:45.359 And we're going to uh be looking at those 10 or 12 uh verses that uh that Alice read for us uh from verse 40 uh down to 52 as we continue in our in our John series. 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:47.679 So it'd be good to kind of have that open in front of you. 00:00:47.840 --> 00:00:58.320 One of the things that uh that we do all the time, maybe kind of instinctively without knowing it, is uh we uh we jump to conclusions, we make assumptions about people. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:00:59.280 Have you ever done that? 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:00.640 I know I do that. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:03.840 Uh I've even had assumptions made about me. 00:01:04.319 --> 00:01:13.920 Uh we make assumptions all the time, we uh go to snap judgments uh about people or about types of people, uh really without very much evidence. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:17.599 I think of uh some perhaps common ones. 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:18.799 Uh what do we do? 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:21.040 We we assume that all politicians are liars. 00:01:21.200 --> 00:01:24.400 So if you're studying history and politics or something like that. 00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:28.319 Uh, but we assume that politicians tend to be liars and self-serving. 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:29.760 Uh we what's another one? 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:32.480 Uh people like to assume that billionaires are bad. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:36.319 That if you're a billionaire, you're an ungenerous, miserly person. 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:48.640 Uh we assume uh perhaps that uh that uh we have interpreted correctly the tone and text or of the email or text that we've received. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:49.359 You ever do that? 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:52.879 Do you ever get an email or text and go, I can't believe that they said it like that? 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:59.359 And then you talk to them about it, or maybe you don't, but you might talk to them about it and you think, oh, that's not what they intended at all. 00:01:59.599 --> 00:02:03.280 We assume the tone of a text or an email. 00:02:03.439 --> 00:02:06.159 Some people assume that all poor people are lazy. 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:10.800 Uh some people assume perhaps that God couldn't possibly love you. 00:02:11.599 --> 00:02:19.599 Uh we assume that one person's side of the story is the true account of a dispute without hearing the other side. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:23.360 Assumptions can be dangerous. 00:02:23.919 --> 00:02:28.479 They lead us to judgment where perhaps judgment is unwarranted. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:34.719 They lead us to hatred and to division when we should be pursuing unity and love. 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:41.680 Sometimes assumptions even lead us to cowardice when we should be pursuing courage. 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:48.719 Like I say, maybe you've had the experience of people making assumptions about you. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:03:03.840 People have looked at you, your background or your ethnicity, or your educational level, and they have made assumptions that you haven't particularly appreciated. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:13.439 You would rather they came and had a conversation about you and judged your character and your competency level rather than just running to a judgment. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:26.560 Or what's worse, perhaps, you have been the other party in the disagreement, and people have listened to the first person and made conclusions. 00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:35.280 And you're standing there and you think, well, if somebody would come and ask me, then perhaps we'd realize that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:38.000 Have you ever been on the receiving end of that? 00:03:38.240 --> 00:03:41.439 It's very unpleasant to have people make assumptions about you. 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:50.319 Assumptions can create division, they can collide the truth, they can be a breeding ground for division and for hatred. 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:52.719 And people make assumptions about Jesus. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:54.960 People make assumptions about Jesus all the time. 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:57.439 Some of you here are making assumptions about Jesus. 00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:05.280 One of the chief assumptions about Jesus is that people, uh, rather than looking at everything that he said, they focus in on one aspect of him. 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:10.240 Uh, usually what happens is they focus on something, uh, something nice and inoffensive and good. 00:04:11.039 --> 00:04:13.120 Uh Jesus said, Love your neighbors. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:16.319 And they absolutize that over everything. 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:18.879 I think that's that's the sum total of what he's about. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:21.040 Make assumptions about Jesus. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:28.720 We make assumptions about God that he is perhaps uncaring and vengeful and spiteful. 00:04:28.879 --> 00:04:32.959 We assume that he can't or won't or doesn't uh love us. 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:38.480 Uh, if he did, he wouldn't have allowed that thing in our past to happen to us. 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:40.399 And so we make assumptions. 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:48.000 In John 7, there are lots of assumptions swirling around about Jesus. 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:55.759 The crowd is operating uh out of their ignorance and so jumping to conclusions about who Jesus is. 00:04:57.040 --> 00:05:04.399 Some assume that because the religious leaders haven't gone and arrested him, that actually maybe he must be the Christ. 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:15.759 So if you were to look up at uh at verse 25, just a little way up from our reading, uh, it says, Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, Is this not the man whom they seek to kill? 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:20.000 And yet here he is speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:23.759 Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:30.800 So they're like, Well, I thought they wanted him dead, but actually he's teaching publicly, so maybe they know something that we don't. 00:05:31.279 --> 00:05:35.360 They're jumping to conclusions, they're making assumptions. 00:05:36.639 --> 00:05:39.839 The assumptions about Jesus create confusion. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:43.839 Look down at verse 40, the very first verse of what we were looking at. 00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:48.000 Now, when they heard these words, some people said, This really is the prophet. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:50.800 Now, the the prophets, you can see it's capital P. 00:05:51.120 --> 00:05:58.079 This is a reference to a character that was promised to arrive back uh in Deuteronomy. 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.519 Moses said there'd be a prophet like me who would come. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:08.079 And so they're thinking, okay, maybe that guy's arrived in in Jesus, and in some senses he is that that prophet. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:16.560 But uh in in the ancient Jewish mind that was separated out from the Christ, so there's this confusion, this really is the prophet. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:23.199 Others said this is the Christ, but some said, well, could he possibly be the Christ if he came from Galilee? 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:26.879 Because the scripture says that he should come from Bethlehem. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:30.319 And so they make assumptions. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:32.879 They kind of think, well, why not go and ask him? 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:38.959 Why not go to Jesus and go, I know you're from Galilee, but where were you born? 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:46.879 And we all know, if you know that if you've been to a carl service, oh little town of Bethlehem, right? 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:48.319 But nobody went and asked him. 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:53.120 So they're just operating out of ignorance and making assumptions. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:07:07.199 I think probably there are still people today who would rather not ask the questions because they don't want uh to deal with the implications of the answers. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:09.279 And so they continue making assumptions. 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:14.240 They continue actually in their ignorance rather than going like these guys and saying, Well, where were you born? 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:16.079 Are you oh you are from Bethlehem? 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:17.040 Oh, okay. 00:07:17.519 --> 00:07:19.839 They would actually rather not ask the question. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:21.759 There's a willfulness, do you see? 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:31.040 There's a willfulness in the human heart that doesn't want the questions answered because of what it might lead us to. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:41.759 And so we make assumptions, make assumptions that the Bible is just a made-up set of fairy stories to help the kids go to sleep out of a long camel ride out of Egypt. 00:07:42.480 --> 00:07:46.399 We assume that it was written by uh men hundreds of years later. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:49.759 Ian McKellen is right in the Da Vinci Code movie. 00:07:50.079 --> 00:07:50.560 Right? 00:07:50.800 --> 00:07:54.800 It was old Council of Nicaea, and so you think, there we go. 00:07:54.959 --> 00:08:00.000 That's that's that side of the argument that fits with my priors, and so I'm going to believe that. 00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:02.399 We make assumptions, we jump to conclusions. 00:08:03.839 --> 00:08:09.040 Say, well, there's no real evidence that Jesus even existed, let alone rose from the dead. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:14.319 And then you kind of say, Well, have you actually looked at into these things? 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:16.399 Have you uh studied the sources? 00:08:16.480 --> 00:08:17.839 Have you read the scriptures? 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:20.480 Have you uh looked at the extra biblical evidence? 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:21.600 Have you considered those things? 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:26.480 Oh well, well, no, but so they jumped to conclusions. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:44.240 There are assumptions in this passage modeled by the Pharisees, the religious leaders, uh, that lead to unbelief, division, and even murderous hatred. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:09:06.000 It's clear by the end of uh this chapter, by the end of chapter seven, that the pressure is beginning to get to the Pharisees, the the religious leaders, uh, that they're they're sensing the um the power of this man to persuade the crowd they can feel their own power on the crowd loosening. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:10.639 The pressure's beginning to get to them, and under that pressure, they're beginning to crack. 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:16.879 It's funny that they're beginning to crack because Jesus promised living water. 00:09:18.080 --> 00:09:23.679 He promised living water to the soul that would come to him, just in the verses on up that we looked at last week. 00:09:23.840 --> 00:09:29.440 But in their rejecting of him, they're drying out and they're hardening and they're cracking. 00:09:32.559 --> 00:09:36.399 And you can see in these verses some of the assumptions that they're making. 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:55.120 And honestly, how the Pharisees are responding is so similar in many ways to the way people act today when they feel threatened, when they feel that like their power is being undermined, when they come up against disagreement. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:08.399 It's worth just taking a moment just to note the different assumptions that they make that lead them to division and to hatred, because I think they apply to many of our situations and spheres of life today. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:14.559 The first thing that they assume is that they assume that everyone else is wrong and that they're right. 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:19.440 They assume that everyone else is wrong and that they are right. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:37.279 They had sent uh a bunch of temple officers, temple guards, uh, to arrest Jesus and to bring Jesus to them, but they come back empty-handed, and we'll look at uh why they come back empty-handed in just a minute. 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:40.639 It was because of the stunning power of his teaching. 00:10:41.759 --> 00:10:45.759 The guards, as well as many in the crowd, are astounded by Jesus. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:50.639 And so they come back to the Pharisees and say, Well, nobody ever spoke like this man. 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:54.799 But what's the uh response of the Pharisees? 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:59.279 It's down there in uh in verse 46. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:02.000 The officers answered, No one ever spoke like this man. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:06.960 The Pharisees answered them, Have you also been deceived? 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:16.159 They assume that both the crowd and the guards have been deceived. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:26.559 But rather than hearing the response of the guards, and let's just like the guards were not um like hired thugs. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:31.840 The guards came from the tribe of Levi, which is the educated priestly class. 00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:34.559 They worked and lived in the temple. 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:41.360 They just happened to be the kind of younger, maybe more kind of heavy set guys, but they were educated. 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:47.840 And so rather than the Pharisees going, actually, these guys are coming back and saying that this guy's pretty astounding. 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:50.240 Maybe we should hear from him? 00:11:50.399 --> 00:11:52.399 Maybe we should ask some questions? 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:57.600 No, instead of doing that, they assume that the whole army is out of step at them. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:58.720 Do you see? 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:04.720 Rather than investigating more, they just assume that the crowd is wrong. 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:07.200 Now, why is the crowd wrong? 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:14.879 Well, they tell us in verse 46 uh, have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:19.279 But this crowd that does not know the law. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:23.840 He's saying, We are educated experts. 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:32.159 These uneducated uh rubs, they haven't, they haven't even they haven't even got a degree. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:34.480 How could they possibly know? 00:12:35.279 --> 00:12:40.320 They dismiss them out of hand because of educational snobbery. 00:12:41.519 --> 00:12:46.879 They assume that they are wrong and that the Pharisees are right. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:13:13.200 One of the signs of someone who is ideological and divisive is a person who cannot be taught anything, who always assumes that the other person is wrong and that they're right. 00:13:22.080 --> 00:13:25.519 A kind of puffed out the chest. 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:33.600 It enables you to dismiss people that you uh regard as beneath you. 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:49.519 But it's an assumption that actually cuts you off from any growth, any change, any maturing, any potential greater and deeper unity with people who you disagree with. 00:13:52.799 --> 00:13:56.639 And let's just remember, uh this is the religious leaders, right? 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:00.720 And I know that I'm speaking now to very many Christians and other Christians. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:03.120 We're not immune from this way of thinking. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:10.480 Of writing people off, of making assumptions, of thinking that we're always right and the other person is wrong. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:16.399 It goes deeper though with the Pharisees. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:24.080 Secondly, the Pharisees not only assume that the crowd is wrong and that they're right, they assume that the other side is evil. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:26.000 Do you see that move? 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:35.279 Do you see the move from thinking that somebody is wrong, the person that you disagree with is wrong, to now seeing that the person that you disagree with is bad. 00:14:37.679 --> 00:15:07.759 You see how that move uh is happening in different spheres of our cultural discourse, that as points of disagreement and points of friction come up, there is this move, uh, particularly perhaps with uh with Christians, as we kind of bump up against the uh the cultural preferences and the cultural worldview, that actually we're we're moving from being seen as just uh being seen as wrong to now being seen as bad. 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:11.759 And Christians can do it too. 00:15:12.240 --> 00:15:14.559 But notice what it is that the Pharisees say. 00:15:14.639 --> 00:15:20.879 The Pharisees not just say that they the crowd is uneducated in verse 49, but this crowd that does not know the law is what? 00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:24.639 Is accursed, under accurse. 00:15:24.960 --> 00:15:26.799 They are evil. 00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:29.840 This is the next step. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:41.759 After we've assumed that somebody is deeply mistaken or wrong, it is easy then to cast them as being wicked, to cast them as being bad, as having malevolent intent. 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:46.639 They aren't just ignorant, they're evil. 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:49.600 And that's the Pharisees' assessment of the crowd. 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:55.679 They don't just know, uh, they don't just, they're not just ignorant of the law, but they're actually accursed. 00:15:55.840 --> 00:16:04.000 And this is a stunning degree of blindness from the Pharisees here, because uh the Pharisees were supposed to be the shepherds of the people. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:07.120 Their primary duty of care was to who? 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:09.039 It was to the crowd. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:26.159 And so now we have the the cultural elites, the educated ones, looking at the the hoi poloi, looking at the common man, the common woman, and saying, well, actually, they're all they're all not just idiots, they're all bad. 00:16:28.720 --> 00:16:31.519 It's very easy then to uh to write them off. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:36.000 It's very easy then to operate without reference to them, then. 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:41.279 That if somebody is bad, you want to ignore them. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:44.799 You want to work around them. 00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:49.600 This is how things deteriorate in a community. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:17:01.120 When we think that somebody is wrong, then we think that somebody is bad, and so we stop engaging uh with them on the merits of an issue and start disparaging and attacking a person. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:03.360 I mean, isn't that what isn't that what happens? 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:08.640 I mean, this is this I'm basically right now I am describing Twitter, right? 00:17:09.119 --> 00:17:17.039 Could because people don't tend to, you know, that cartoon of uh of the guy sitting up late at night and his wife comes in and says, aren't you coming to bed, dear? 00:17:17.519 --> 00:17:18.960 No, somebody is wrong on the internet. 00:17:19.519 --> 00:17:20.400 You ever you ever have that? 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:23.200 You say, No, somebody's wrong on the internet, I have to correct them. 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:32.400 But what ends up happening is we go from engaging on the merits of an argument to simply what you call ad hominem, personal attacks. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:37.279 You're this, you're that, you're phobic, you're a Nazi, you're a bigot. 00:17:39.039 --> 00:17:43.839 Because if you paint somebody as evil, you can claim the victory, right? 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:47.599 Beware religious leaders. 00:17:47.839 --> 00:17:52.319 And again, I don't stand in judgment over the culture of the Christians can be just as bad. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:18:03.440 Beware religious leaders and others who despise and shun those who they are supposed to protect and guide. 00:18:05.440 --> 00:18:19.920 The third assumption that the Pharisees uh make, or the third thing that they are guilty of, is the Pharisees reject everything that doesn't fit with their prior assumptions. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:24.160 Have a look at this little uh interchange with Nicodemus. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:37.200 We met Nicodemus back in John 3, he's the one who came to Jesus at night, had the conversation about the uh about being born again, had the conversation about uh, you know, that's where God for God so loved the world, John 3.16, it's all in that interchange with Nicodemus. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:42.960 And clearly there's something working with Nicodemus, and Nicodemus wants to kind of pull the guys back. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:54.240 And so Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them, that is one of the Jewish ruling council, said to them, Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does? 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:58.079 They replied, Are you from Galilee too? 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:01.279 Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee. 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:02.960 Now, what's going on here? 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:07.599 Well, this is uh what people today would call confirmation bias. 00:19:07.920 --> 00:19:15.519 I guess we all have it at some level, but it can lead to a kind of willful blindness and a refusal to see other people's points of view. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:23.359 Nicodemus essentially stands up in the council and he doesn't make a full-throated defense of Jesus. 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:24.960 He doesn't say, Do you know what? 00:19:25.279 --> 00:19:27.279 I had a conversation with this guy. 00:19:27.440 --> 00:19:29.920 I agree that nobody's ever spoken like him. 00:19:30.079 --> 00:19:35.279 The things that he said to me about being born again, his knowledge of the Old Testament, about being born of water and this way. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:36.720 He doesn't do any of that. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.279 Doesn't give a full-throated defense of Jesus. 00:19:39.440 --> 00:19:48.799 All he does is make a procedural point that in order to come to a judgment, you need to first have a conversation with the guy. 00:19:49.119 --> 00:20:00.880 Rather than just jumping to arresting him, let's have a forum, have a discussion, let's have a debate, and then let's make an informed decision about how to move forward. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:05.680 Let's have Jesus come and explain themselves, explain himself. 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:08.720 But the rest of the council are having none of it. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:15.759 And so they call Nicodemus biased, because he comes from Galilee as well. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:17.680 He comes from the same region. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:28.880 And so they say, and so when they say to him, search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee, they're not saying to him, Off you go, Nicodemus, head up to Galilee, make an investigation. 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:31.519 No, it's much more barbed than that. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:35.519 He's like, they're like saying, Nicodemus, do you even know your Bible? 00:20:36.720 --> 00:20:38.960 No prophet comes from Galilee. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:40.880 No prophet comes from there. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:42.880 But here's the thing. 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:45.680 Here's the thing. 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:47.839 That's not even true. 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.720 Elijah, Jonah, and Nahum. 00:20:52.960 --> 00:20:54.160 You may not know those names. 00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:57.200 You might only know Jonah of big fish of fame. 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:02.400 Those three, where do they come from? 00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:03.920 Galilee. 00:21:05.279 --> 00:21:06.640 So what are the Pharisees doing? 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:07.759 The Pharisees ignorant? 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.039 The Pharisees uh don't know their Bible? 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:20.880 Or are they cherry-picking things that suit their prior conclusions? 00:21:21.920 --> 00:21:29.039 Are they accepting that which fits with their worldview and rejecting that which doesn't? 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:54.799 Again, this is something that we all do to some extent, and it takes a it takes a degree of intellectual integrity, it takes a degree of courage to say, actually, this doesn't fit with my assumptions about the world or about who I am or about how society works or about relationships. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:21:57.200 This doesn't fit with that. 00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:05.920 Uh, but I'm gonna try and Look at it and examine it because maybe I've got something to learn. 00:22:06.240 --> 00:22:10.319 But it is the Pharisees are operating under under confirmation bias. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:11.359 Does it fit? 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:12.319 Then we'll have it. 00:22:12.480 --> 00:22:13.279 Does it not fit? 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:14.559 Then we'll reject it. 00:22:14.880 --> 00:22:15.599 Do you see? 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.839 These three prophets were from Galilee. 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:29.839 What the Pharisees are saying isn't even true. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:32.960 And here's the thing. 00:22:34.079 --> 00:22:35.200 Unbelief. 00:22:37.279 --> 00:22:42.319 Unbelief in Jesus isn't rational. 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.640 Unbelief isn't rational. 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:52.960 We throw up things so that we don't have to investigate. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:56.960 We throw up more questions as a defense mechanism. 00:22:58.240 --> 00:23:04.960 The unbelief of the Pharisees isn't due to a lack of education or a lack of investigation. 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:14.640 They simply hated the idea of Jesus being the Christ, of Jesus being God's King, because they didn't want to relinquish their power. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.680 They didn't want the implications of that for their life. 00:23:19.839 --> 00:23:26.079 And so everything that suggested that they should listen to Jesus was simply dismissed out of hand. 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:41.200 Oftentimes in in informal conversations with folks either after church, if I've been speaking at an event at a university, and somebody who isn't a Christian, if you're not a Christian here this morning, I am so glad that you're here. 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:45.279 It'd be really boring if everybody here just agreed with everything that I said. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:52.799 But isn't there a degree of intellectual integrity and a degree of courage to say, do you know what? 00:23:52.880 --> 00:23:57.920 I am going to investigate these things as dispassionately as I can possibly muster. 00:23:58.240 --> 00:24:02.079 I'm really going to look, I'm not just going to throw up the questions as a defense mechanism. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:06.480 I'm actually going to try and work them through to whatever the conclusions lead you to. 00:24:06.559 --> 00:24:15.839 And if you conclude Jesus never rose from the dead, you know, because Christianity stands and falls in the resurrection, for example, you conclude Jesus never rose from the dead. 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:16.799 God bless you. 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:17.920 I think you're wrong. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:20.319 We can disagree on that, but at least you've looked. 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:22.160 A bit like kids trying a new food. 00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:25.359 My daughter is just convinced that she won't like sweet corn. 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:25.839 Right? 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:27.440 She said, I know I don't like sweet corn. 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:28.880 Well, have you ever tried it? 00:24:29.119 --> 00:24:30.640 No, but I don't like it. 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:34.000 I don't think it quite works like that. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:40.559 Now you might not like sweet corn, but but every now and again she at least tries the food and then goes, no, I don't like it. 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:42.480 Well I said, well, at least you tried it. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:44.880 At least you had the courage to say, do you know what? 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:46.880 I'm actually going to investigate this. 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:56.400 I think oftentimes people stay away from Christianity because at some unacknowledged level they just don't want it to be true. 00:24:57.759 --> 00:25:01.920 This is kind of flippant, so uh forgive me and take the point. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:08.400 You might say that the the two central tenets of atheism are there is no God and I hate him. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:17.920 That there's actually a desire not to look at a desire for it not to be true. 00:25:18.640 --> 00:25:22.079 I think that's maybe what's going on with some of the religious leaders here. 00:25:26.079 --> 00:25:48.000 The sad irony of all of this in this passage is laden with irony, is that the uh is that the Pharisees claim that the officers are blinded by deception, that the crowd is blinded by a curse, and that Nicodemus is blinded by his own bias, when in reality they are the ones who are deceived and cursed and biased. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:58.400 The Pharisees are hardening and cracking when they should be drinking from the fount of living water and allowing that to soften the landscape of their soul. 00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:05.759 Those are some of the assumptions that are being made by the religious leaders now. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:09.039 Secondly and finally, you're welcome, two-pointer today. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:14.480 Secondly and finally, how does Jesus uh confound our assumptions? 00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:19.839 You remember the report of the officers, no one ever spoke like he did. 00:26:20.240 --> 00:26:30.480 Jesus confounds people's assumptions, both in this passage and just over and over and over again in the Gospels, and indeed that might be part of your story of faith. 00:26:31.039 --> 00:26:33.039 How does Jesus confound our assumptions? 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:34.319 Well, there's two ways. 00:26:34.480 --> 00:26:38.799 Uh the first what the first one is shorter than the second. 00:26:39.039 --> 00:26:43.119 Everyone assumes that the Pharisees are in charge, but they're not. 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:51.279 Everyone assumes that the Pharisees are in charge when actually there are hints in this passage that Jesus is in ultimate control of what's going on. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:56.480 The Pharisees clearly consider themselves as being in control. 00:26:57.039 --> 00:27:02.400 That's why they're dispatching battalions of officers to arrest Jesus. 00:27:03.200 --> 00:27:05.839 The crowd also assumes that the Pharisees are in control. 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:07.119 Remember verse 25. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:11.279 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, Is this not the man whom they seek to kill? 00:27:11.359 --> 00:27:15.279 And yet here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. 00:27:15.440 --> 00:27:18.799 Can it be that the authorities really know that he is the Christ? 00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:19.359 Do you see? 00:27:23.200 --> 00:27:31.039 It's, oh no, they assume that the Pharisees are in charge and that the Pharisees are doing nothing for a reason. 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:41.759 But what we see, what's really going on, is Jesus' ultimate control of the situation. 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.359 Cast your eye to verse 30. 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:55.359 Where it says, so they, that's the religious leaders, it's the guards, so they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him. 00:27:55.599 --> 00:27:56.240 Why? 00:27:57.119 --> 00:28:00.079 Because his hour had not yet come. 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:07.759 No one arrests Jesus because it's not the appointed time for him to be arrested. 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:20.799 The hour in John's gospel, just to remind you, is the is the hour of Jesus' death, where he will be arrested and taken to the cross, crucified, buried, and again, and then raised on the third day. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:24.799 But Jesus at this point is like, no, it's not time. 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:25.839 It's not happening. 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:28.160 And we see that at a number of points throughout the Gospels. 00:28:28.240 --> 00:28:35.920 There's uh there's uh there's another time where they they try to make him king by force and and he slips through their grasp. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:36.799 Why? 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:41.119 Because he is in ultimate sovereign control of what's going on. 00:28:43.759 --> 00:28:49.839 And so he'll say in just a couple of chapters' time in John chapter 10, he'll say, No one takes my life from me. 00:28:50.240 --> 00:28:52.480 I lay it down of my own accord. 00:28:54.400 --> 00:29:05.200 The arrest and crucifixion of Jesus gave the religious leaders the illusion of control, uh, just as it perhaps gives the illusion of victory. 00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:08.240 But they were both wrong. 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:18.799 We assume oftentimes that we're in control, that we're the master of our own destiny, the captain of our own ship, but that's not true. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:22.880 Goodness me, if the last two years have taught us everything, and so that's not true. 00:29:25.279 --> 00:29:31.200 And maybe it is that you know acutely the out-of-controlledness of your life and of your world. 00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:32.880 And so, where do you grasp? 00:29:33.039 --> 00:29:34.319 Where do you run to? 00:29:34.480 --> 00:29:38.400 Do you try and rest control a back for your back for yourself? 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:48.400 Or do you run to the one who has a sovereign, complete, perfect, and good control of all times and all places and all peoples? 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:56.079 Jesus confines our assumptions by showing us where the power and the authority truly lies. 00:29:57.359 --> 00:30:04.400 The second way that he confines our assumptions, and we've alluded to it a number of times, is he confines our assumptions by the way he speaks. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:14.160 The whole center, the whole fulcrum of this passage, around which the passage turns, is the assessment of the guards in verse 46. 00:30:15.759 --> 00:30:16.720 Look at it with me. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:22.480 The officers answered, no one ever spoke like this man. 00:30:24.880 --> 00:30:30.240 The word translated here, one, is the word anthropos, where you get anthropology from. 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:38.880 Maybe you're an anthropological student, uh, which literally means no human being ever spoke like this man. 00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:46.799 Do you hear the irony that John is putting in there of the guard's assessment, of the officer's assessment? 00:30:47.519 --> 00:30:48.720 Because they're right. 00:30:49.440 --> 00:30:52.000 No human being has ever spoke like this man. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:54.880 And this is no mere human being. 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:07.200 What's interesting here is that what stopped them in their tracks was not Jesus' power. 00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:09.680 It was not a miracle. 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:17.680 You know, it's not that uh he performed some heroic act or that he, you know, he blasted the guards back with the death rays from his eyes. 00:31:17.839 --> 00:31:18.960 No, Jesus didn't do that. 00:31:19.039 --> 00:31:21.519 That's uh that's a different chapter. 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:23.759 Um still away, good. 00:31:24.240 --> 00:31:29.440 Uh no, what stopped them in their tracks is that no one ever taught like him. 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:35.839 There are many proofs and evidences for Jesus' divinity. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:42.559 He showed his authority over sickness by healing people, he showed his authority over nature and creation by calming the storm. 00:31:42.640 --> 00:31:49.279 He even showed his authority over death by raising Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11. 00:31:49.839 --> 00:31:54.720 But often overlooked is the sheer power and authority of the way that he spoke. 00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:59.039 The other gospel accounts say similar things that cry is constantly astounded. 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:00.720 Nobody ever spoke like this guy. 00:32:00.880 --> 00:32:14.960 The authority and the power of the way this guy speaks is just an order of magnitude different to anything else we have ever encountered, that it's so arresting and compelling and intriguing. 00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:22.880 But it wasn't just the way that he spoke, was it? 00:32:23.680 --> 00:32:27.920 It's the content of what he's saying is so utterly unique. 00:32:28.559 --> 00:32:33.519 Think back to the conversation with with Nicodemus and John and John 3. 00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:37.359 And we don't have time to go back into it, but some of the things that Jesus says there are astounding. 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:42.559 He compares himself to the to the bronze serpent that that Moses raised up in the desert. 00:32:42.720 --> 00:32:48.960 If you don't go back and read John 3, if you're not familiar with that, but really he's saying, I'm the serpent that you look at in order to live. 00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:55.680 He's saying, I'm the son, come from heaven, who will perish in order that you would have eternal life. 00:32:55.839 --> 00:32:58.559 Or he says to the woman in John 4, he says, Do you know what? 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:05.519 Come to me, and I'll give you water that will well up inside your soul as a spring to eternal life. 00:33:05.680 --> 00:33:12.640 Not only that, but he says, she says to the woman at the well, he says, Don't go to any special place in order to worship God. 00:33:12.799 --> 00:33:15.519 There are no special places anymore. 00:33:16.000 --> 00:33:17.039 You come to me. 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:19.680 I'm the place where you meet God. 00:33:19.839 --> 00:33:21.200 What an astounding thing to say. 00:33:21.359 --> 00:33:23.519 No other religious leader has said that. 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:28.160 He fed the crowd, but not only did he feed the crowd, he then taught them what it meant. 00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:29.680 He just said, Do you know what? 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:35.200 You've had the fill of the loaves, but what you're missing is that I'm the bread that's come from heaven. 00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:38.400 I'm the bread, not just the manna in the wilderness. 00:33:38.559 --> 00:33:39.839 That all pointed to me. 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:41.920 You need to come and feed on me. 00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:43.279 Who said that? 00:33:43.839 --> 00:33:46.400 An utterly astounding thing to say. 00:33:46.880 --> 00:33:56.079 To say nothing of what we looked at last week, that you can now come to Jesus and that your soul in some way can drink from him. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:59.839 Utterly astounding. 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:04.000 No one ever spoke like this man. 00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:23.599 In 2004, uh Bono, uh that great uh Irish prophet was uh was doing an interview with a uh with a French newspaper, and he was asked uh about his belief in Jesus. 00:34:23.840 --> 00:34:30.800 And the the French journalist said, Look, isn't a belief in Jesus as as God just far-fetched? 00:34:31.920 --> 00:34:34.559 Uh let me read to you his response. 00:34:34.800 --> 00:34:38.800 He says, No, it's not far-fetched to me. 00:34:39.039 --> 00:34:42.480 Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this. 00:34:42.639 --> 00:34:56.079 He's a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot uh to say along the lines of the other great prophets like Elijah or Muhammad or Buddha or Confucius, but actually, Christ doesn't allow you that. 00:34:56.320 --> 00:34:58.400 He doesn't let you off the hook with that. 00:34:58.559 --> 00:35:02.079 Christ says, No, no, no, I'm not saying that I'm a teacher. 00:35:02.159 --> 00:35:03.760 Don't call me a teacher. 00:35:03.920 --> 00:35:05.599 I'm not saying that I'm a prophet. 00:35:05.760 --> 00:35:08.239 I'm saying I'm the Messiah. 00:35:08.719 --> 00:35:11.440 I'm saying I'm God incarnate. 00:35:11.599 --> 00:35:14.320 And people say, no, no, no, please just be a prophet. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:15.840 A prophet we can take. 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:17.760 You're a bit eccentric. 00:35:18.000 --> 00:35:21.599 We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey. 00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:28.400 We can handle that, but don't mention the M word, because you know, we're gonna have to kill you for that. 00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:38.639 And he goes, No, no, I know you're expecting me to come back uh with an army and to free you all from these creeps, but I actually am the Messiah. 00:35:39.039 --> 00:35:46.480 And at this point, everyone starts looking at their shoes and says, Oh my god, he's going to keep on saying this. 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:56.880 So what you're left with is either Christ was who he said he was, the Messiah, or a complete nutcase. 00:35:57.039 --> 00:36:00.800 And I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:05.840 You know, Charles Manson is uh a murderer in California. 00:36:06.079 --> 00:36:08.159 He says, I'm not joking here. 00:36:10.079 --> 00:36:21.199 The idea of the entire course of civilization for over half the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside down by a nutcase. 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:25.119 That for me is far-fetched. 00:36:29.920 --> 00:36:33.360 You might you may or not may not be intellectually persuaded by Bono. 00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:36.000 You may or may not be persuaded by his music. 00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:45.760 Uh to be intuitive to be intellectually persuaded by Bono's argument is one thing, but belief in Jesus is more than that. 00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:52.159 It's more than being persuaded that he is in fact God, because the devil believes that. 00:36:52.880 --> 00:36:59.440 You know that the devil believes all of the true things about Jesus, that he is the Messiah, that he's not a nutcase, that he's actually God. 00:37:03.360 --> 00:37:08.960 No, remember what he said last week. 00:37:09.920 --> 00:37:13.280 If anyone thirsts, come to me and drink. 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:18.320 This is the last and most confounding assumption of Jesus. 00:37:18.960 --> 00:37:31.199