It isn't enough to combat irritants. We must have discernment to recognize what is dangerous and what is harmless. The body makes the wrong call and it thinks that, you know, the trees or the flowers, it's a deadly disease that's really going to bring you down. And so it's got to fight it with a runny nose. And I wish it did not do that at all. Similarly, in today's passage, Jesus heads back to Jerusalem for the first time since he had proclaimed himself to be the Son of God and he had healed a man on the Sabbath day.
[00:01:51]
All of the Old Testament feasts and all of the Old Testament sacrifices and holy days, these were all pointing towards Jesus. So Passover would be the one that we are most familiar with. Every time we observe the Lord's table together as a church family, we remember Passover, the unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine that we partake in together as we did, I think it was last week, if I remember correctly. And so we remember Passover and we think about Jesus and how he gave his life for us, just as the Passover lamb's life was given to cover over the children of Israel as they were leaving Egypt.
[00:03:24]
If Jesus walked into our church today, our thought should not be, I can't believe he interrupted our service. The point should be, yes, he is the point of all of it. However, that is not what Israel had in mind during this point.
[00:06:25]
The people that day in Jerusalem at the feast of shelters, the feast of tabernacles, they were faced with a judgment call. With a choice to determine whether Jesus should be believed or should be dismissed entirely. And today we are going to be called on to make a similar decision, to make our decisions based off of God's truth, not our truth. Make your decisions based off of God's truth, not your truth.
[00:06:42]
John tells us that they told him this because they didn't believe in him yet. They were taunting him, and though they had grown up with Jesus, they did not believe in Jesus. Maybe some of you have encountered this even in your life growing up. Maybe your parents brought you up in church. Maybe your grandma took you to church sometimes. But you have known about Jesus, but you have not experienced him as your Lord and Savior.
[00:08:53]
He says, I am sent from God and you don't know him and you're not listening to him because if you were listening to God, you would know that I have come from God. They actually try to grab him. They try to seize him at that point and are unsuccessful. And Jesus says, I'm only going to be here for a short time and then I'm going to go and where I'm going to go, you guys can't come.
[00:12:27]
On the most important day of the festival, Jesus says, I'm actually going to read this verse. Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. The one who believes in me as the scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him. He said this about the Spirit.
[00:13:27]
You make the right call when you trust God. You make the right call when you trust God. Want to make a right decision? Don't rely on you. Rely on God and his son, his word, and his Holy Spirit.
[00:17:31]
If you hear nothing else from this message, you need to hear this. God loves you. You are alienated from him due to your sin. There is a cost that must be paid as a result of your sin. Jesus paid that price in full and is offering you rescue from the path of death and destruction that you're on back into the path of the light and life and love of God. Turn from your sin, from being the master in charge of your own life, and call on Jesus alone to forgive your sin and to be your Lord.
[00:18:08]
When you ask him to forgive you and you turn to him in faith as the one who is in charge of your life, you will be absolutely forgiven. Forgiven forever. You will have an eternal relationship with God as your father, and you will have God's Holy Spirit, his presence living in your life from that moment onward.
[00:18:45]
You can make every right decision in your life, but if you get this decision wrong, it'll all be pointless for your eternal state. Make the right choice first and foremost by trusting Jesus for salvation.
[00:19:25]
Here's the truth. You are not smart enough to handle your life, your finances, your relationships, or your spirituality on your own. How can I say that? that? Because that's true in my life. And because the word of God says so. God tells us that we all went astray like sheep. We all have turned to our own way. And scripture commands us, don't lean on your own understanding, but instead trust in the Lord with all your heart.
[00:20:26]
Everything that you have belongs to God and you are a manager, not an owner of what God has given you. So intentionally spend your money on the things God wants you to take care of, like your family, his church, your taxes, and your bills.
[00:21:14]
This week for your family relationships or for your friendships, you need to trust God's word when it tells you, let your speech always be gracious. You might want to yell at someone. You might want to insult someone, but that's not God's way. And you need to listen to God's word.
[00:22:01]
Trust the Spirit of God to guide you in each moment of your life. This is what Jesus was declaring, that as a result of what Jesus would accomplish for us on the cross, He would give us that living water, the Holy Spirit that would guide us into every area of our life.
[00:23:03]
Listen to God's Spirit speaking through actual people in your life, and listen to their warnings, their encouragements, their affirmations, and their rebukes. God didn't save you as a lone wolf. He saved you to be a part of a church family, and can I encourage you? Don't just always go to the people that agree with you.
[00:24:19]
Let the peace of Christ officiate in your heart when you're faced with the decision you have read the word, you've listened to the spiritual counsel of others, you've prayed your conscience isn't saying the decision is wrong go with the decision that God gives you peace for I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit's guidance and again that's not every way that the Holy Spirit guides us but those are some great ways.
[00:26:00]
We make the wrong call when we trust ourselves first we don't know everything so we are missing crucial details we see this in Jesus's half -brothers that they doubted Jesus we see this in the people that they doubted Jesus constantly they make fun of him for saying like you you're demon -possessed who's trying to kill you and they don't know another group of people that also doesn't believe Jesus because they don't think that he's from Bethlehem and they don't think he's the Messiah that they are actually trying to kill him so all these people have incomplete details and so they made the wrong judgment call about Jesus.
[00:26:30]
Don't seek to initially judge or criticize others. Don't trust your estimation of them or their actions because you don't know all the details. Be curious, not judging. And yes, that is a Ted Lasso quote in church. Seek to understand where others are coming from. Don't just seek to win over others.
[00:27:31]
Any time in my life or yours where we're like, I just know so -and -so is thinking this about me or they're plotting this, we are claiming to be a mind reader, and we're most likely wrong. Paul told the Corinthians, love thinks no evil about another. When you trust your reading of someone else's mind or motive, you're not operating in truth or facts, and any decision that you make based on someone else's assumed mind or motive is going to be a wrong decision.
[00:28:20]
The people at your workplace that you hate the most, the people in your neighborhood that you wish would move, the person a couple rows in front of you that you wish would take a long vacation. They are image bearers of God, people that Jesus desperately loves and they have lived lives with difficulties that you have never personally lived. They are fighting battles you may never have to face and God is calling on you not to judge and hate them or to be perpetually annoyed by them but to love them and share Jesus with them.
[00:29:30]
Jesus, he's just writing in the sand with his finger. Scripture doesn't tell us what he's writing. And they're like, what are we, what are we supposed to do? And he goes, the person that does not have any sin, let him be the first person to throw the stone at her to kill her. It says from the oldest all the way to the youngest, each of them went away one by one being convicted of knowing, oh yeah, I'm not perfect.
[00:31:45]
So in your life and my life, we're faced with a choice. Now, most of you will not be called on to be like a jury to determine someone's death this week. But within your life, within your family, in your workplace, in your neighborhood, in your church, you're going to be called on to make some judgment calls. Make the right call by trusting in God, not yourself. Listen to the Son of God for salvation. Let him be your Lord and your master. Listen to the word of God and listen to the spirit of God. As we do that, we're going to make the right call.
[00:33:23]
