Sayre Woods Bible Church

The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. (John 10:2-4)

One phrase kept popping out at me this morning from John 10…his sheep follow him because they know his voice (10:4)…I have other sheep…they too will listen to my voice (10:16)…my sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me (10:27).

What is the “voice of Jesus”? Obviously Jesus speaks through the Word of God. It is God’s written Word and it testifies of Jesus. But the Pharisees and religious leaders ”knew” God’s Word and they still didn’t hear the voice of Jesus. So the voice of Jesus must be an inward voice, a voice that speaks directly to our hearts. It speaks in conjunction with God’s Word…it also speaks in conjunction with God’s witness through nature (Psalm 19:2)…but it is not the same as the Bible or nature. It is an inner voice. A voice that speaks directly to our hearts. It is the voice of the Spirit of God.

What does the voice of Jesus say? Well, if it is tied to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, then it is a voice that convicts us of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:7-11). It is the voice in our hearts that tells us directly but with love…”You are a sinner. You do not measure up to the righteous, holy standard of God. You need God’s mercy. You need a Savior.” The true sheep of God not only hear this voice but listen to it. They respond in humility and brokenness. They call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13)…they cry out for God’s mercy…God, be merciful to me a sinner (Luke 18:13)…and they embrace His grace and mercy. Others hear this voice and “speak against” (i.e., blaspheme) the voice of the Spirit. They essentially tell the Spirit to “shut up” or simply drown out His voice with the noise of this world.

Who hears the voice of Jesus? Everyone in the world “hears” it in the strictest sense of the word but only God’s sheep listen to it. That’s why everyone who stands before God in judgment is “without excuse.” Because God loves every person on planet earth and He speaks to the hearts of every person on planet earth. A person either listens to His voice or rejects it. As God’s witnesses, we simply echo the voice of Jesus that already resounds in a person’s heart. If they reject us, it is because they are already rejecting the voice that they hear in their hearts.

Wow, this thought really hit me this morning. Am I listening to the voice of Jesus? I think His voice calls us to salvation but, once we receive Him as Savior, it also speaks to us day by day. It calls us to follow Him. It speaks through the written Word to our inner hearts. It speaks through nature. It speaks through our conscience. It speaks directly. Our job is to quiet our hearts to hear His voice. To eliminate the extra noise. To be still and know that He is God…and that He is speaking…we have to train the ears of our heart to listen.

Jesus says over and over in the Gospels…He who has ears to hear, let Him hear. I think He is talking about more than our physical ears. He is talking about the spiritual ears of our heart.

Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts… (Hebrews 3:7).

Lord, let me hear Your voice today. I know You are speaking. Train me to detect Your voice through Your Word, through nature, through the witness of others, through the quiet whispers of Your Spirit.

Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him. (John 9:38)

Pretty simple words but oh so powerful.

“Lord, I believe.” Three words from the man’s heart lead from death to life.

The blind man has quite a progression in John 9. At the beginning of the chapter he is healed by Jesus but he is not sure who Jesus is. As the story unfolds and the now-healed blind man is questioned and re-questioned by the Pharisees, the man grows in his understanding of the identity of Jesus. Here is the progression of his thoughts about Jesus…

• He is the man they call Jesus (9:11)
• He is a prophet (9:17).
• He is from God (9:33).
• He is Lord (9:38).

Once he realizes who Jesus is, he exercises faith in Him. “Lord, I believe.” Those three words reflect the change in his mind and in his heart. Jesus is more than just a man. He is more than just a prophet. He is more than someone from God. He is Lord. That is who He is. And a person must either reject Him or submit to Him. This man believes and gains eternal life.

“And he worshipped Him.” If there is any doubt about who Jesus is, then this should remove it. The healed blind man falls on his face and worships before the Man Jesus. If Jesus is not God, then this is idolatry and blasphemy, the grossest violation of the first commandment. If Jesus is God, then this is the only proper response to Him.

Believe and worship. That is the heart of the gospel. I believe Jesus is who He said He is. I acknowledge Him as Lord. And I bow down in worship.

Lord, I believe and I worship You today.

On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.” Others said, “He is the Christ.” Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee? Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. (John 7:40-44)

Jesus creates quite a stir, doesn’t He? The people were divided because of Jesus. Everyone had an opinion about Him. If you read through all of chapter seven, you will find at least seven views of Jesus:

1. He is a seeker of fame (7:4).
2. He is a good man (7:12).
3. He is a deceiver (7:12).
4. He is a demon-possessed loonie (7:20).
5. He is a prophet (7:40).
6. He is the Christ (7:41).
7. He is a confusing man (7:42).

Two thousand years later, people are still divided over Jesus. Who was this Man? Was He just a good man with good teachings on human relationships? Was He a self-deluded deceiver, or worse yet, a malicious deceiver? Was He crazy? Was He misunderstood? Or was He the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God?

There is no more important question to answer…in fact, that’s why the question still engenders such fierce debate even today. People will deny the existence of Jesus, question the disciples’ testimony, question the accuracy of the New Testament, and even hold seminars and take votes on which statements of Jesus are really real and which ones must be unauthentic. It seems that we as humans will do just about anything to deny, soften, or ignore the words of Jesus. Why? Because deep down we know so much is at stake. If this Man was who He said He was, if He really said the words He said, then we have to make a choice about who He is.

C.S. Lewis stated it so well fifty years ago. It is hard to improve on his words:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, pp. 40-41.)

Of course, if all we had was Jesus’ words, then the debate could go on endlessly without any real answers. But Jesus did more than talk…He died on a cross and rose again from the dead three days later. That’s the real kicker. By all rational accounts, Christianity couldn’t and shouldn’t have survived the first three centuries if Christ did not rise from the dead. That was the message of the disciples and they were willing to die for it. That was the message of the early church and thousands died for it. Something happened in Palestine 2000 years ago that has forever changed the course of history. That cannot be denied. Either God walked on earth, died as a lasting testament of His love for us, and then rose again to show His power over death and sin. Or some crazy religious person stirred up a bunch of other crazy people to live incredible lives of sacrifice and love with the false hope of a resurrection.

I believe the evidence points to Jesus as God in flesh and I have chosen to embrace Him as my Lord and Savior. But each person has to make their own choice…and they have to make that choice realizing that there is a very real possibility that eternity hangs in the balance.

That’s why the question of Jesus’ identity will not leave us alone.

You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept praise from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. (John 5:39-42)

These verses really hit me this morning…sort of like a 2×4. It was a good reminder that “diligently studying the Scriptures” means nothing if it is not done out of love for God. I knew this. The Great Commandment makes it clear. The chief command I am to follow is to love God with all my heart, mind, and strength and love my neighbor as myself. If I miss that, I miss everything. But I needed the reminder this morning. It is so easy to read Scripture out of duty or to get some good thought out of it or to teach a Bible lesson or to find some verse to correct a friend or even to impress others with my spiritual knowledge. But all these reasons are inadequate and perhaps even detrimental if the love of God does not abide in my heart. I am to read Scripture to grow deeper in love with God and to allow His Word to transform this sickened, selfish heart into a heart that is increasingly able to love others also. Apart from that, His Word simply becomes a tool for my own selfish ends.

The Pharisees show this attitude clearly in this chapter. Here is man who has been lame all his life and Jesus miraculously heals him…..on the sabbath. When the Jewish leaders see the man walking around with his mat, they rebuke him, “Hey, stop carrying your mat on the sabbath!” Wow. They look right past the miracle, right past the man himself, and see their legalistic rules being violated. They knew the words of Scripture but they missed their spirit. They knew the laws of Scripture but they didn’t know the love of God. And their lack of love for God was immediately evidenced in their lack of faith in Jesus and their lack of compassion toward others.

The Spirit seemed to whisper to me this morning….”be careful, Steve, you call fall into the same trap.” I can know the stories, the verses, the principles, and the theology and still miss the Father. Lord, deliver me from a self-righteous spirit. Forgive me for approaching Your Word as a subject to be mastered rather than as a love letter from You.

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” (John 4:15)

The Samaritan woman is like most of us–searching for physical answers to spiritual problems. Jesus knows from the outset that this is a “thirsty” woman, not physically but spiritually. She is desperately looking for something to satisfy her soul. The evidence of her inward thirst is revealed by her incessant jumping from one relationship to another.

“I have no husband,” she tells Jesus…conveniently masking the truth with an evasive statement. Jesus, however, knows her situation perfectly. “You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

We can only conjecture what led to the five divorces in this woman’s life. Since women did not have a whole lot of rights in that culture, she was probably the one who was divorced not the one doing the divorcing. For whatever reason, she could not get a relationship right. Men dumped her and she desperately searched for another man. Finally she gave up on the whole marriage thing…”What difference does it make? These guys dump me anyway”…and decided to try a new approach, living together with a man. My guess is that this arrangement offered her some level of relief from her inward thirst while at the same time limiting the amount of pain she would feel if the relationship didn’t last. She is hungry and this at least gives her a crumb.

What is amazing is that Jesus sees all this before this woman even opens her mouth. As God in the flesh, Jesus saw right to her heart. Let me expand on that…He saw past her gender. He saw past her nationality. He saw past her past failed relationships. He saw past her present sinful relationship. And He saw her desperate hunger and thirst for a spiritual relationship with God. So just like He did with Nicodemus, Jesus foregoes a lot of small talk, and He immediately touches on her deepest need…whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

This woman is spiritually thirsty and Jesus offers her spiritual life. But she just can’t see it yet. “Give me this water so I don’t have to keep coming her and drawing water from this well.” She is locked into thinking that her biggest problems in life are physical ones. That her biggest needs in life are physical ones. And that her biggest solutions in life will be physical solutions. She is like the person who watches infocommercials all day waiting for the product that will finally bring them lasting joy and satisfaction. But there is no such product. Because no physical item can satisfy spiritual hunger.

I wonder how often I do the same thing. I don’t consider myself a materialist but I am sure the roots of materialism run into my heart. I am not sure how you can live in this culture and not have such roots. I may not be “desperate” for material things but I can’t deny the desire for a nicer car, a bigger house, a nicer TV, a more secure and abundant financial state. And it’s not just material things…if only I had more satisfaction in where I lived, in my job, in my recreation, in my relationships…I am looking for physical answers to my spiritual thirst. Better yet, I am looking for a Coca-Cola (something fizzy and pizzazzy) when what I really need is more living water (to be fully loved by God and filled by His Spirit). 

The other thought that hit me was how often I look at others and see physical problems instead of spiritual ones. Just like this Samaritan woman, every immoral or messed up life you see is evidence of a deep spiritual thirst that is trying to be met in the wrong way. As a follower of Christ, I have to train myself to look past the gender, past the skin color, past the past failures, past the present sin, and see a heart desperate for God. I always liked G.K. Chesterton’s quote, “Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God.” Pretty graphic quote but it certainly gets the point across.

At the end of this story, the Samaritan woman finally gets it. She realizes who this Man is. And she leaves her waterpot behind and runs to tell others about Him. When she finally finds the spiritual answer to her thirst, she can’t help but tell others about it.

Lord, quench my thirst in such a way that I can’t wait to tell others about You.

16“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

It is hard to ignore John 3:16. It is the first verse that most people memorize from the Bible. And a good one at that! John 3:16 reminds us that God’s love is universal (the world), sacrificial (He gave), personal (whoever), and eternal (everlasting life). The one who receives God’s love, as displayed in Jesus Christ, receives eternal life. It is a gracious offer from a gracious God.

But what about those who do not receive God’s love? That’s the question that John deals with in the verses that follow John 3:16. These verses make several points clear:

• Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it but to save it.
• Whoever does not believe in Jesus is not then condemned; they were already condemned. In other words, Jesus did not come to send people to hell. They were already on that path. He came to stop them. If they refuse His grace, then they merely continue on the road they had chosen for themselves.
• The judgment of God is based on one fact–light has come into the world. The people who loved the light came to it and received life; those who hated it, retreated from it and received the judgment they asked for.

These verses answer a difficult question that I often wrestle with. How does God deal with those who do not trust Jesus or who do not even know Him? Or how does God deal with those who are seemingly sincere and good but do not necessarily follow the Christian path?

John 3:18-21 make it clear that there is only one thing that sends a person into a Christless eternity–a rejection of the light of God. Jesus Christ is the essence of God’s light. He is perfectly righteous and loving, full of grace and full of truth. Those who desire God’s righteousness are drawn to the light, regardless of how much they know about Jesus. Those who are evil in heart run from the light because they do not want to be exposed for who they are. No one is in hell because they “just didn’t know.” They are in hell because they are self-judged. They preferred darkness over light.

This is what it means to “blaspheme the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 12:31). Jesus says, “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” Many people fret over exactly what this means. I think the meaning is clear. The Spirit is the One who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment (John 16:8-11). The Spirit is the One who points people to Jesus Christ (John 15:26). So to speak against the Spirit, to blaspheme Him, is to tell Him to “shut up!” when He quietly says to a person’s heart, “You have fallen short of God’s standard. You are guilty. You need God’s mercy. You need a Savior.” Every other sin will be forgiven but this one–because this one is a rejection of God’s grace.

That is the judgment. Light has come and men chose darkness over light. Righteousness has come and men chose their evil deeds over righteousness. Truth has come and men chose lies over truth. The Way has come and men chose their own way over God’s way. Life has come and men chose death over life. It is a crazy thought but Scripture plainly teaches that many people would rather die than repent. They are so attached to their own way that they cannot let it go even if the consequences are severe and eternal.

So what about those who have never heard the name of Jesus? We can rest in the fact that God sees and knows their hearts, He loves them, He sent His Son to be the Savior of the world, and He sent His Spirit to touch the heart of every individual who has entered this world. If a person, like the tax collector in Luke 18, simply and humbly says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner,” whatever their understanding of Jesus and His death, they receive His grace. If they refuse to bow the knee, refuse to let go of their own way, then God simply “gives them over” to the road that they have chosen. He lets them go.

I don’t know all the particulars of how it works but I can trust my Father’s heart and I know my Father’s Son, who is full of grace and truth.

Father, thank You for Your love and for sending Your Son to be the Savior of the world.

…The master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” (2:9b-10)

John records the turning of the water into wine at the wedding in Cana as the first of Jesus’ miraculous signs. It is interesting to me that none of the other gospels mention this miracle. Obviously Jesus did a multitude of miracles in the three years of His public ministry. Apparently the other gospel writers did not see this miracle as significant enough to focus upon. In writing his gospel, it is almost as if John is saying, “Remember this miracle, guys? It was the first one we saw and the first time we realized how unique and powerful Jesus was.” “[Jesus] thus revealed His glory, and His disciples put their faith in Him” (2:11b).

I can see why the other gospels would not focus upon this miracle. It seems so different from Jesus’ other miracles–healing the lepers, restoring sight to blind men, making the lame walk again, feeding 5000+ hungry people, raising the dead to life. In this list, turning 150 gallons of water into wine at a local marriage feast seems somewhat out of place. So what’s the significance? Why does John want to make sure that this miracle makes the list? Better yet, why does the Holy Spirit want to make sure that this miracle is preserved for our eyes today?

As I was thinking about that this morning, I can’t say that I have the definite answer. From reading about this miracle in commentaries and hearing it preached, I know that running out of wine was a serious gaffe in those days. The marriage feast lasted for days and the lack of wine would be devastating to the feast. Essentially there would be nothing to drink since the water was typically undrinkable. It would be similar to running out of food at a giant wedding reception today and suddenly you have a bunch of hungry guests without anything to eat. I also have read that whoever was getting married was probably very close to Mary and to Jesus’ family. Mary seems to have a personal stake in what is going on. Whatever the case, it is hard to understand why the first miracle of Jesus recorded in Scripture is this one. Does the One who comes to heal the sick, make the lame to walk, and make the blind to see also come to save hospitality coordinators from embarrassment?

Obviously there is more to this miracle than meets the eye. I think on one level is does show that Jesus, as God in the flesh, puts His stamp of approval on the celebration of marriage and the experience of joy. Jesus did not come to squelch happiness and bring austerity; He came to bring life and joy and to bring it in abundance (John 10:10). In other words, where Jesus is the joy and abundance never runs out. Consequently, when Jesus reigns on this earth, the joy and abundance will never run out.

But on another level, I think John was telling us something else too. John makes sure to mention that the water Jesus turned to wine was water put into the pots specifically used for ceremonial washings. It was “law” water–water meant to wash the dirt off people’s feet and hands before they ate and drank. Jesus took this water and turned it into the best wine ever tasted. He took cleaning water (which was undrinkable) and turned it into a source of refreshment and joy. I couldn’t help but think of John’s words in chapter one, “From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (1:16-17). 

From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. Wow. Other translations say that we receive grace upon grace or wave after wave of grace. The grace never ends. Isn’t that what this miracle illustrates? 150 gallons of ceremonial law water could not satisfy the thirst or bring any level of joy to the wedding guests. It could clean a little grime off the hands but could do little else. That water represents our feeble attempts to clean ourselves up, to make ourselves look presentable and “good” before others. It cleans up the outside but does nothing to bring healing to the heart. No, true inner change, true joy and refreshment, grace upon grace, gallon upon gallon of wine, comes only from the hand of Jesus. We haven’t tasted anything until we have tasted the grace of Jesus.

Lord, help me to taste Your endless joy and grace today!

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

John 1 is packed with teaching on the identity of Jesus. He is…

• The Word who reveals the Father (1:1).
• The true light who gives light to every person in the world (1:9).
• The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (1:29).
• The Son of God who is at the Father’s side (1:18, 34, 49).
• The Messiah who brings deliverance to God’s people (1:41).
• The Son of Man who provides the way to heaven (1:51).

But the verse that really impacts me each time I read it is John 1:14. The eternal, powerful Son of God took on weak, mortal, human flesh. He did not avoid us or condemn us but “dwelt among us.” He did not hide but was “seen” by men. And in His very essence, He is “full of grace and truth.”

Full of grace and truth. When you look at Jesus, you have to see two things–grace and truth. If you miss either one or downplay either one, you miss Jesus. Some people like a Jesus full of grace but they overlook or deny His truth. They want a Jesus who loves them and requires nothing from them. A nice Jesus who is easy to manage and ignore. But Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes unto the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Jesus did not soft peddle His words. He is the only way to God, the only true truth, the only true life. He is either God or He is a nutcase or a deceiver. We must either accept Him or reject Him but we cannot ignore Him.

At the same time, some people preach a Jesus full of truth but without grace. They seem to like the hard core Jesus who is always railing against sin and making people squirm in their seats as they feel the fires of hell. However, Jesus is full of grace. He weeps over Jerusalem when He sees their stubborn hearts (Luke 19:41). He cries at the tomb of Lazarus when He sees the devastating effects of sin and death (John 11:35). And He shows compassion and grace to the condemned sinner when everyone else wants to stone them (John 8:1-11).

He is full of grace and truth. And to be His disciples, to model Him in our lives, to be imitators of Christ, we have to constantly grow in balance between grace and truth. Learning to love people more and knowing God’s truth more. Uncompromising with truth and unconditional with love. It is a hard balance. We are constantly tilting to one side or the other. Only the power of the Spirit, filling us each day, keeps us in balance. Lord, fill me today with grace and truth.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).